When <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=N+Chandrasekaran&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">N. Chandrasekaran</a> was asked how he will handle manufacturing since he had no experience, his reply reminded the 5-member selection panel of the time when <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=ratan+tata&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Ratan Tata</a> was named <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=tata+sons&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Tata Sons </a>Chairman. 
 
"I cannot all by myself. I need a team to guide me,” Chandrasekaran replied. 
 When <keyword id="6360722" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="ratan-tata">Ratan Tata</keyword> was taking over from JRD Tata, he had no experience in technology and was dependent on FC Kohli to build <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=TCS&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">TCS </a>into the group flagship. 
 
ET quoted people involved in selection process saying that Chandrasekaran's answer made it evident he was ready to hit the ground running. 
 
The selection committee interviewed three other serious contenders - Jaguar Land Rover CEO Ralf Speth, Harish Manwani of Unilever and Sir George Buckley of the Smiths Group. 
 So how Chandrasekaran, or Chandra, appointed? Well, before the <keyword id="46894" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Tata-Sons">Tata Sons</keyword> board met to select the occupant for the corner office, the selection panel briefed the Nomination and Remuneration Committee (NRC) of the board about its unanimous choice. Some of the members of NRC - Tata himself, Ronen Sen and Venu Srinivasan - were also on the selection panel, so the meeting was brief. This was followed by a meeting of the entire board where Chandra, who arrived after addressing the media on TCS' quarterly results, was "officially, given the news. Sources said both Tata and Chandra made short speeches. 
 
After the board meet at Bombay House, the group headquarters of the $103-billion conglomerate in south Mumbai, Chandra and fellow Tata Sons board member Amit Chandra drove back together to the TCS head office. 
 
Pretty early on during selection interviews, the search panel came to the conclusion that, despite the global nature of the process, an internal candidate was to be preferred - one who understood the complexities and ethos of the House of Tatas. 
 
"An external candidate would need some months to grapple with the diversity,” an old group associate told ET. Speth, while an internal candidate, was not an insider in the sense Chandra is. 
 "Look at his value-creation track record and the scale of operations he manages at TCS along with his personal leadership traits and the respect he generates,” another official involved in the process told ET, adding “He has grown TCS substantially from what he inherited from S Ramadorai and helped it topple <keyword id="6354512" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Infosys">Infosys</keyword> as the IT bellwether.” 
 
Chandrasekaran has been instrumental in leading business transformation for many of his global clients. And that in turn has given him invaluable insights into customer centricity. 
 
Under Chandrasekaran, TCS had identified a series of future leaders, so taking him out of the organisation would not have triggered a major dislocation. 
 
His finance deputy was the obvious choice to follow in his footsteps. 
 Now, as <keyword id="651163" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Tata-Sons-Chairman">Tata Sons Chairman</keyword>, Chandrasekaran's job will be to create his own brain trust at the earliest. So that would mean the long awaited group chief financial officer's position getting filled. 
 
Some would even expect the creation of a vice-chairman's role - something that <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=cyrus+mistry&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Cyrus Mistry</a> had promised the Tata Sons board but never did. 
 
"The selection panel or the board could not have done that for him. He has to lead that initiative,” a senior Tata Group official told ET.

Here’s how Tata Sons’ new Chairman N. Chandrasekaran was picked over 3 other contenders

MUMBAI/NEW DELHI: The confusion over venues and match dates, and the change of guard at the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is likely to push down sponsorship revenues of Indian Premier League (IPL) team franchises by as much as 20%, making it difficult for them to meet their revenue targets. While the schedule for the first leg of the IPL in the UAE has been finalised, the BCCI is yet to provide a schedule for the rest of the tournament. 
 
A senior executive of a North India-based IPL team said till there is complete clarity on venues and match dates, sponsors are not willing to sign the agreement. “It is hampering the process,” said the executive, requesting anonymity. “I am under a lot stress. I really need to try and close some deals to achieve our target.” 
 
“It is a difficult task to secure sponsorship this year. Talks started a long time back but potential sponsors want to know the final schedule,” said the chief executive of a South India-based IPL team. The twenty20 tournament has gone through a tumultuous phase in the last few months because of the betting and spot-fixing controversy that broke out last year. While the Supreme Court last week allowed the IPL to go ahead unhindered, it replaced cricket board president N Srinivasan with former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar as incharge of IPL affairs. 
 
The IPL schedule has had to be tweaked as the government refused to provide security at the venues on account of the Lok Sabha elections beginning on April 7. While the first 16 days of the tournament, which starts on April 16, will be played in the UAE, there is still uncertainty over where the rest of the matches will be held. Bangladesh has been kept as a standby venue for the second phase from May 1-12. 
 
BCCI said recently that it has got clearances from various state governments to hold matches in Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Bhubaneswar, Kochi and Visakhapatnam, though no final dates for matches have been announced. “Till such time there is a clear cut understanding of the schedule, it will be difficult to close deals. We usually go by historic data on TRPs to decide on the valuation of a deal,” said Shashin Devsare, executive director at Karbonn Mobile, which has not yet signed a sponsorship deal with any team. “How will we decide TRPs for new venues where IPL matches have never been played?” he asks. 
 
That is the dilemma teams are stuck in. Advertisers usually decide a year in advance. “Following that, they get at least three months before the tournament to plan their advertising around IPL. There is no time this year,” said a senior media planner. 
 
Advertisers such as Pepsi, Idea Cellular, BookMyShow, Garnier, Nokia, Reebok and Aircel have been associated with IPL teams over the last few years. “I can understand the advertisers’ anxiety regarding team and on-ground sponsorship. IPL is a premium property and, therefore, marketers need at least six weeks lead time to plan their advertising around the event. If that is not possible, return on investment could be a huge issue,” said Basabdutta Chowdhury, CEO at Platinum Media, which is a part of Madison Media Group of agencies Two senior media planners from India’s top two media agencies said they anticipated the troubles and have advised their clients to stay away from team and onground sponsorship and to instead invest only in on-air advertising. 
 
“From a short term perspective, there will be a big impact if things remain in flux. But it could be a case of short-term pain for long-term gain,” said Unni Krishnan, managing director of brand consultancy Brand Finance India, referring to the intervention by the Supreme Court. A course correction by the court, said Krishnan, will safeguard the long-term value of the league. 
 
“The way it was going, it was headed for the catastrophic phase,” Krishnan said, adding that sponsorship revenues for franchises could be shaved off by about 15-20% this year. The uncertainty around IPL has also forced some advertisers to pull out of IPL and invest in the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup. Chirantan Chandran, senior principal partner at Dentsu Media India, said, “When the uncertainties with IPL reached its peak, ou r client went ahead to put its kitty in T20 World Cup.”

Confusion Around IPL Shrinks Sponsorship Revenues Of Team Franchises By 20 Percent

What is the best gift you gave someone on his/her birthday? Can’t remember! Well it’s definitely not as grand as what <keyword id="14666" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="BJP">BJP</keyword> has given their beloved leader. <keyword id="6354477" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Narendra-Modi">Narendra Modi</keyword> on his birthday has been gifted a mobile app, which lets people wish him on his birthday. Anyone can download the app in their phone and wish <keyword id="6354642" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Modi">Modi</keyword> on his birthday. Moreover, as a return gift the users will receive a personalized ‘Thank You’ video from the Prime Minister himself. Our tech savvy Prime Minister should be much elated to get this. 
 
The messages from top 50 prominent personalities of the country have gone live on the app today. 
 Some of the messages were accessed by the <keyword id="6474066" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="economic-times">Economic Times</keyword> before they go live on the mobile app. <keyword id="6357912" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="amitabh-bachchan">Amitabh Bachchan</keyword>, Madhuri Dixit, <keyword id="31278" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Lata-Mangeshkar">Lata Mangeshkar</keyword> and <keyword id="6355923" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Aamir-Khan">Aamir Khan</keyword> have written in, so have <keyword id="3820" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Mukesh-Ambani">Mukesh Ambani</keyword> and <keyword id="9171" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Anil-Ambani">Anil Ambani</keyword>, Uday Kotak, <keyword id="46425" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Anand-Mahindra">Anand Mahindra</keyword>, <keyword id="190960" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Baba-Kalyani">Baba Kalyani</keyword>, Venu Srinivasan, Chanda Kochhar, <keyword id="45634" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Jagdish-Bhagwati">Jagdish Bhagwati</keyword> and Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw. Shashi Tharoor, Vinod Rai, Sanjay Baru and Sri Sri Ravishankar have also sent in their greetings. Sports people like PV Sindhu, P Gopichand, Saina Nehwal and <keyword id="487" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Sania-Mirza">Sania Mirza</keyword> have shared their reflections of experiences with PM. 
 
Here's a look at how a entrepreneurs wished the Prime Minister on his birthday 
 
Anand G. Mahindra Over a decade ago when Narendra Modi visited Mumbai and invited businessmen to invest in <keyword id="6354766" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Gujarat">Gujarat</keyword>, I remember thinking to myself: 'This man is different'. And over the ensuing years, PM Modi has indeed proved that he is a different kind of man. He is a man in a hurry to transform India. 
 
Sunil <keyword id="272096" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Bharti-Mittal">Bharti Mittal</keyword> 
The last couple of years have been quite revealing. Under a visionary leader, India's potential, which was never quite in doubt, has suddenly found new meaning, and more importantly, acceptance and respect among global audiences at the highest level. The eloquence with which the PM communicated India's vision for the world...the way his charismatic statesmanship gets applauded, it makes each and every Indian proud. 
 
Cyrus P Mistry One of my first meetings I had, along with <keyword id="3660053" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="mr-ratan-tata">Mr Ratan Tata</keyword>, after assuming a new role in <keyword id="8555" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Tata">Tata</keyword> group in 2012, was with Mr Narendra Modi. I remember going into the meeting thinking that this would entail the standard exchange of pleasantries. That day, I came out of the meeting having learnt an important lesson in leadership. 
 
Anil Ambani I recall the first time I met <keyword id="1267365" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Narendrabhai">Narendrabhai</keyword> in the 1990s when my father <keyword id="6418409" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Dhirubhai-Ambani">Dhirubhai Ambani</keyword> invited him home for dinner. At the end of the conversation, Papa remarked: "<keyword id="110806" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Lambi">Lambi</keyword> race no ghodo chhe, leader chhe, PM banse - he's a thoroughbred for the long run, a true leader, he will be prime minister. In the words of my father, Narendrabhai "dreams with his eyes open" and with <keyword id="6359315" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="arjuna">Arjuna</keyword> like clarity of vision and purpose. 
 
Kumar Mangalam Birla 
Today, there is an air of confidence, a 'can do' feeling. Narendra Modi's has put in place the foundation for strong and sustained economic growth that benefits everyone. Not surprisingly, there has been a distinct improvement in the ease of doing business in India. Above all, Mr Modi is a man of integrity, a man of character, and that is what resonates the most. 
 
 Here’s how <keyword id="143" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Bollywood">Bollywood</keyword> wished the Prime Minister on his birthday on the app 
 
Lata Mangeshkar 
You were opposed a lot but you have kept on walking on the path of truth. The whole world in the grip of violence but I am sure your policies will win over this violence. 
 
Aamir Khan 
I always pray that your health always remains fine and you get all your desired happiness. This year has been more memorable for you compared to your earlier years. 
 
 
Amitabh <keyword id="6354348" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="bachchan">Bachchan</keyword> 
I first met you at your CM residence, Gujarat to seek tax exemption for Pa. An ordinary house, an ordinary room...you said let's watch the fi lm, took me along to a theatre and saw the film. Spoke a bit about Gujarat tourism... and Surprise, within a week Gujarat tourism offi cials were at my home in Mumbai to speak to me...and within a few days work started.

​ Here's how Mukesh Ambani, Uday Kotak, Anand Mahindra and other Indian leaders wished Narendra Modi in his birthday

Her paternal grandmother, Kokilaben, stood by husband Dhirubhai but never joined him as he redefined the boundaries of Indian entrepreneurship. Her father’s sisters, or her aunts, were married early into business houses, with little discussion about joining the business: Dipti into the Salgaocar family and Nina into the Kothari family. Her mother, Nita, broke the mould somewhat and has done a fair bit on the business end of the group. But Isha Ambani, 22, is poised to redraw the family-business construct for Reliance women scions. 
 
Last week, ET reported the only daughter of Reliance Industries owner Mukesh Ambani had joined global consultancy McKinsey in the US. Isha, a Yale graduate in psychology and South Asian studies, had joined her father at the Reliance annual general meeting in Mumbai last year. While the company declined comment, corporate observers say the McKinsey stint is probably a stepping stone to larger things in the family business empire. 
 Across India Inc, more and more women scions can be seen at the frontline of their family business. There are some who have made a mark: like Nisa <keyword id="6369697" type="COMPANY" weightage="40" keywordseo="Godrej">Godrej</keyword> and Tanya Dubash at the Godrej Group. There are some who are asserting themselves: like Radhika Piramal, the 34-year-old, Harvard-educated managing director of VIP Industries. 
 
And there’s a new lot stepping in: like 30-year-old Gursimran Mann, managing director of Simbhaoli Sugars, and the first woman in four generations of the family to play a hands-on role in its business. According to business historian Gita Piramal, who is also the mother of Radhika Piramal, 20 years ago, she predicted it would take two generations before Indian women in the family business became the done thing. “I find it has taken one generation to do so,” she says. 
 
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Three Pivots Of Change 
 
“It is a belated effect of what is happening in society,” says Ashvini Chopra, MD &amp; CEO of Universal Trustees, a firm that helps business families in succession planning. When it comes to women in business, this change pivots around three aspects. 
 
The first is education. “Parents who would typically give professional education, including overseas exposure, only to their sons are now also encouraging daughters,” says Prabir Jha, chief HR officer, Reliance Group, speaking in general and not in reference to the Ambani family. “Their entry into business responsibilities is then a logical corollary.” 
 
Secondly, family size is shrinking. Joint families are becoming nuclear, resulting in a fall in the number of male heirs. “In many families it’s a father and son and daughter like situation. And daughters are the heir apparent,” says Kavil Ramachandran, Thomas Schmidheiny Chair professor of family business and wealth management at Indian School of Business. “Also many families are realising that girls are as good as, or better than, boys in performance.” 
 
For some like Sulajja Firodia Motwani, vice-chairperson of Kinetic Engineering, all this was a given. “A combination of a good atmosphere at home, freedom to do what we wanted and treating daughters like sons encouraged me to get into the family business,” she says. While she feels this is how it should be, Piramal says it’s still not the case in all families and inequalities manifest themselves in many forms. “We are only half way there,” she says. “There are several prominent business families where daughters are not at the forefront of handling businesses in terms of true equality.” 
 
That leads to the third pivot of change: an amendment in the Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act, in 2005, which removed gender discrimination in inheritance in Hindu joint families. Previously, only the male line, down to the great-grandson, had inheritance rights. The amendment gives women an equal share in the family business. “Even women married before 1994 can come back and claim equal rights into the family business as well as inherited assets,” says Sameer Tapia, senior partner at ALMT Legal. 
 

	But the exciting, radical change is happening in operations, and Tapia offers some sense of its magnitude. “We have at least 40 per cent family-business clients where women are playing an active role in the family business, and are part of crucial strategy or execution teams.” And many, like the four women profiled here, are leaving an imprint. 
	 

	 
	 
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Through the Ranks 
 
Unlike many, if not most, women scions in India, Lakshmi Venu had a point of reference on the gender question. Her mother, Mallika Srinivasan, is the chairperson and chief executive of tractor company Tractors and Farm Equipment Limited. But Lakshmi, 31, gravitated towards the businesses managed by her father, Venu Srinivasan—auto-component company Sundaram-Clayton and two-wheeler firm TVS Motor. In 2010, Lakshmi was inducted as director-strategy and whole-time director of Sundaram-Clayton. In May 2011, she was also made vice-president in charge of global business strategy at Sundaram-Clayton. 
 
It capped close to a decade of her involvement with the family business. Back in 2003, Lakshmi joined as a management trainee in Sundaram Auto Components. She also did stints in business strategy, design, corporate affairs, and sales and marketing at TVS Motor. Lakshmi declined comment for this profile. 
 
But senior auto industry professional RL Ravichandran, who has worked in a senior position in TVS Motors, says Lakshmi was interested in the business from early on. Even with her impeccable academic qualifications, he adds, she earned her way through various roles. “(It’s why)…there was no resistance from employees when she was inducted on to the board.” 
 
Speaking on the condition of anonymity, a senior TVS manager who interacts with Lakshmi describes her as “level-headed” and “business-like”. She currently manages the entire component business, which includes die cast, rubber, plastics and seats. “She is handling the business well and it is showing results,” he adds. Unlike Lakshmi, brother Sudarshan Venu, 24, had an easier entry into Sundaram-Clayton, joining its board in 2011. 
 
According to VG Ramakrishnan, managing director of Frost &amp; Sullivan, a consultancy, it’s a good sign when scions spend time in the business rather than being parachuted into it. “Children are being groomed to take over executive roles and responsibilities right from the beginning as part of effective succession planning,” he says. “It shows the progressive nature of these companies.” 
 
 In 2011, Lakshmi married Rohan Murty, son of <keyword id="6354512" type="CITY" weightage="40" keywordseo="Infosys">Infosys</keyword> co-founder Narayana Murthy. Her lineage aside, she is seen as a leader in her own right. Anil Singhvi, founder and director of Institutional Investor Advisory Services, a proxy shareholder advisory firm, has been baying against the tendency of business families to induct women scions into the board simply to meet the new rule of minimum women representation. But for Lakshmi, he says: “She is competent to take the business forward.” 
	 

	 
	 
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When a 21-year-old Bhairavi Jani returned from the US in 2000, after a year of working as a supply-chain consultant in KPMG’s Washington DC office, she battled two stereotypes as she tried to make her mark in the male-dominated Indian logistics business industry: gender and age. “There were people who did not want to work with me, who thought I was probably amusing myself for a few years before being married off,” she says. “And then there were customers, even MNCs, who refused to give business to a young woman, who they were sure would fail miserably at logistics planning.” 
 
Her father had thrown her into the deep end, and told Jani to learn to swim. Instead of making her a part of Blue Dart, his flagship before he sold it to DHL in 2004, Tushar Jani stumped his elder daughter by asking her to set up her own venture. “His view was that people from family-owned businesses tend to take things for granted,” says Jani, now 34. “Going through the pain of setting up a venture would teach me two things: never be afraid to take risks and value what it takes to sustain a business.” 
 So, Jani set up i3pl, to provide end-to-end logistics services to corporate clients. After initially struggling for business, i3pl obtained its first client in M&amp;M, and subsequently signed up British Petroleum, Sara Lee and <keyword id="60299" type="CITY" weightage="40" keywordseo="Walt-Disney">Walt Disney</keyword>, among others. Jani roped in partners in 2003 and, in a planned exit, sold out to them in 2005. 
 
That same year, Jani assumed the role of group director for the SCA Group, which has four verticals: warehousing, supply chain technology, cargo handling and freight forwarding, and shipping, respectively. At present, she provides strategic and operational guidance, operating as a link between the board and professionals; she also directs new projects and is in charge of joint ventures and alliances. 
 
Jani set up the warehousing vertical, via a company called Transmart India, in 2007. Percy Dhunjisha, a former CFO of Blue Dart Express and a person who had worked closely with her father, was her mentor there. He describes her as a searching and questioning manager. “Bhairavi’s management style is, forethought is better than afterthought,” he says. “She does not accept things as they are presented, but will often probe enough with questions to determine whether there is an alternate way of doing things and whether the same has been considered before arriving at the solution presented.” 
 
At SCA, she has her father’s backing. “Daughters are as astute and sharp in financial management, balance sheet and P&amp;L [profit and loss] accounting, says Tushar Jani. “I have always believed in that. Therefore, Bhairavi has always been given full charge of our projects and companies, including P&amp;L responsibility. And like any CEO, she has been answerable to the board.” 
 

	Gender and age still come up in conversations, though. Even today, there are few women in the logistics industry, and Jani still has to face issues of equality with male colleagues and work-life balance. “But I am confident that women in leadership roles in business will pick up sharply,” she concludes. 
	 

	 
	 
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Set up in 1933, Simbhaoli Sugars has seen four generations of the Mann family nurture it. But in that journey, women from the family, though present as shareholders and promoter-directors, were conspicuously absent on the frontline. Gursimran Mann, belonging to the fourth generation, changed that. 
 In 2005, just 21 and out of college, she joined Simbhaoli— a business with inert appeal to the young and a workforce in which women made up less than 1%. In doing so, she was turning her back on options available to her like consulting and investment banking. She even considered joining a consumer products or an agri-trading company, having done internships with Nestle, <keyword id="76102" type="COMPANY" weightage="40" keywordseo="Cargill">Cargill</keyword> and ED&amp;F Man. 
 
“It was my decision,” says Mann. She grew up in the Simbhaoli factory compound, in rural Uttar Pradesh, listening to conversations about the business and watching sugar being made. “This background, combined with my training in economics, made me realise the opportunity that existed for me to help grow the business further.” The only child, she did not immediately start reporting to her father and chairman Gurmit Mann. Joining as a trainee, Mann worked in various departments—factory, farm operations and trading —reporting to different people. 
 
“My promotions were not on auto mode,” she says. After completing her MBA from London Business School, Mann became an executive director in 2012 and managing director in July 2013. At Simbhaoli, she counts among her achievements increasing asset utilisation, partnering with global sugar trading company ED&amp;F Man, setting up sugar refinery on the Gujarat coast to tap the import-export play, reducing the cyclical nature of the sugar business by pushing the power and the alcohol business, building a consulting vertical that advises other companies on all things sugar, and raising new capital from private equity. “She has taken the challenge to professionalise the business,” says Devin Narang, India MD of Singapore-based PE fund Sindicatum, which has invested in the company. 
 

	For Mann, it’s all in a day’s work. “There is an overall social and cultural change, leading to a change in mindset among business families regarding acceptance of daughters to take charge,” she says. 
	 

	 
	 
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The middle of three daughters, Arathi Krishna was the first women in her family to join the business, in 1989, when she was just 20. “I had an easy transition into the company,” says Krishna, now joint managing director of auto-component major Sundram Fasteners. “I was easily accepted by employees.” Acceptance from the industry has followed. The 45-year-old spearheads the Rs 2,651 crore company’s domestic business. 
 “This is a logical succession,” says Sonu Iyer, partner &amp; diversity and inclusiveness leader, <keyword id="151258" type="CITY" weightage="40" keywordseo="Ernst-Young-India">Ernst &amp; Young India</keyword>, a consultancy. “The daughters [younger sister Arundathi is in charge of overseas operations and business development] have grown up in an entrepreneurial set up, and it’s only natural for them to be entrepreneurs and also do it better.” 
 
According to Arathi, her parents gave her an environment to flourish and the freedom to choose. “There was no difference between a son or a daughter,” she says. “My parents are very progressive, willing to take risks and pushed us to pursue our interests. But they never pushed us into the business.” Arathi did an MBA from the US. She stayed on, first to work in automotive strategy with a consulting company and then with Sundram Fasteners for five years. “I knew I would, at some point, come back and join the business,” she says. 
 
“So, I took up jobs in the US that were related to the business. I wanted to make myself worthy when I came back to join the business.” Arathi returned to India in 2006, and became joint MD in 2011. Arathi counts among her achievements making the workforce at Sundram Fastners younger, and the work culture more performance-based and technology oriented. Around 2005, the average age of the Sundram workforce was 40 years; it’s now down to 35 years. 
 
In her earlier years, at industry meets, Arathi would feel out of sorts in what was essentially a man’s world. “But then, I felt it was tougher to work in a Japanese or a Korean company,” she says. At present, 10% of Sundram’s workforce is made of women. “We have always believed in equality at the workplace. We are promoting more women to join the manufacturing ranks in the company.”

You Searched For "Venu Srinivasan" and got 4 results

Here’s how Tata Sons’ new Chairman N. Chandrasekaran was picked over 3 other contenders

BI India Bureau

Confusion Around IPL Shrinks Sponsorship Revenues Of Team Franchises By 20 Percent

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Here's how Mukesh Ambani, Uday Kotak, Anand Mahindra and other Indian leaders wished Narendra Modi in his birthday

BI India Bureau

Family Businesses In India See Rise Of Women As Promoters And Leaders

Economic Times

You Searched For "Venu Srinivasan" and got 4 results

Here’s how Tata Sons’ new Chairman N. Chandrasekaran was picked over 3 other contenders

BI India Bureau

Confusion Around IPL Shrinks Sponsorship Revenues Of Team Franchises By 20 Percent

Economic Times

​ Here's how Mukesh Ambani, Uday Kotak, Anand Mahindra and other Indian leaders wished Narendra Modi in his birthday

BI India Bureau

Family Businesses In India See Rise Of Women As Promoters And Leaders

Economic Times

Here's how Mukesh Ambani, Uday Kotak, Anand Mahindra and other Indian leaders wished Narendra Modi in his birthday