A day after the elevation of his son Sudarshan Venu as Managing Director of TVS Motor Company, Venu Srinivasan’s daughter Lakshmi Venu (38) has taken over as MD of Sundaram Clayton (SCL), a leading manufacturer of automobile components.
Lakshmi Venu, a graduate of Yale University, holds a doctorate in Engineering Management from the University of Warwick and has been serving as the Joint Managing Director of SCL since September 2014.
She has been the lead architect in establishing Sundaram Clayton’s global footprint. Her decision to set up a foundry in the US three years ago in 2019 in Dorchester, South Carolina was almost prescient, as most US-based customers were looking for on-shore foundry units to reduce supply chain risks and curtail carbon footprint, according to a company statement.
“Lakshmi brings deep customer understanding and has developed strong relationships with global customers. She has successfully chartered a strategy to have a global footprint to build a competitive advantage. I am confident that she will continue to transform Sundaram-Clayton into a world-class auto component manufacturer,” said R Gopalan, Chairman, Sundaram-Clayton.
She managed the turnaround of Sundaram Clayton to make it a competitive foundry in the world and has built deep customer relationships with Cummins, Hyundai, Volvo, Paccar and Daimler.
“Lakshmi’s focus and dedicated efforts over the last ten years have seen the Company do a turnaround in quality, profitability, and building relationship with OEMs. She has spearheaded the establishment of our US operations which have commenced activities recently. We are confident that under her leadership, Sundaram-Clayton will see its rise globally,” said Venu Srinivasan, Chairman Emeritus, Sundaram-Clayton.
FY22 results
On a standalone basis, the company’s net profit for FY22 was ₹2,276.69 crore as compared with ₹75.84 crore in FY21. Its FY22 net profit was boosted by an exceptional income of ₹2122.60 crore, which included a profit of ₹2,094.43 crore from the sale of shares, representing a 7.14% stake in its subsidiary, TVS Motor Company and interest income of ₹47.92 crore arising out of investments, among others. Standalone revenue for FY22 stood at ₹1,743 crore (from ₹1177 crore).
For the quarter ended March 31, 2022, SCL posted a standalone net profit of ₹722 crore, including exceptional items, as compared to ₹83 crore in FY21. Its revenue from operations stood at ₹497 crore as against ₹405 crore.