True to its philosophy of letting professionals run the show, the Murugappa Group, which acquired Coimbatore-based Shanthi Gears Ltd through its group company Tube Investments, has brought in a professional to steer SGL.
Of the five-member SGL board announced on Monday, only one was from the promoter’s family of the Murugappa Group- M.M.Murugappan, the Vice-Chairman of the Murugappa Corporate Board and Chairman of a string of Murugappa Group Companies. The rest were from outside the Group promoter’s family and two from Coimbatore itself.
Shanthi Gears Ltd said that Mr Sreeram Srinivasan was appointed as President and Executive Director of the company effective from the close of business hours of September 3.
A meeting of the board of directors of SGL today co-opted as Additional Directors M.M. Murugappan, L. Ramkumar, C.R. Swaminathan, J. Balamurugan and Sreeram Srinivasan.
Ramkumar is the Managing Director of Tube Investments of India Ltd. C.R. Swaminathan is the former Chief Executive of PSG Group of Institutions, Coimbatore. He is also a former President of Confederation of Indian Industry, Southern Region. J. Balamurugan is a Director, Unity Electro Systems Ltd, Coimbatore and a former Chairman of CII, Coimbatore Zone.
Sreeram Srinivasan comes with a rich experience in the automotive sector. He was the MD of Saint-Gobain Sekurit India Ltd, which is an automotive glass manufacturer, when he resigned from the company last year. He had before that been the Vice-President-Operations in two Rane Group companies-Rane Engine Valves Ltd and Rane Brake Linings Ltd and had worked with Sundaram Fasteners Ltd prior to that.
The fact that the Murugappa Group has brought in an automobile industry veteran to be at the helm of Shanthi Gears Ltd, a major industrial gear manufacturer, also indicated that it would like the company to explore opportunities in the auto space, particularly as SGL has got surplus manufacturing capacity.
Speaking to Business Line, C.R. Swaminathan said the induction of Sreeram Srinivasan as President and ED of SGL was in consonance with the philosophy of the Murugappa Group to leave running of companies to professionals, though they may provide general guidance. The induction of two persons from Coimbatore was also aimed at bringing in independent directors to the company.
The promoter of SGL, P. Subramanian, who sold his stake in the company to Tube Investments, resigned as MD and Director. Other directors to leave were M.J. Vijayaraaghavan, D. Padmanabhan, C.G. Kumar and M. Alagiriswamy.