TVS Motor veteran Venu Srinivasan under scrutiny after supporting Chandrasekaran’s reappointment

Venu Srinivasan, the grandson of TVS Group founder T V Sundaram Iyengar and former managing director of Sundaram-Clayton’s two-wheeler business, now serves as chairman emeritus of TVS Motor and has been on the Tata Sons board since 2016. He also holds the vice-chairmanship of the Sir Ratan Tata Trust and sits on Tata Sons’ nomination and remuneration committee, making him the longest-serving board member. In a recent board vote, Srinivasan joined three directors in endorsing a fresh five-year term for chairman N Chandrasekaran, directly opposing Noel Tata, who represents the Tata Trusts.

This split intensified an ongoing power struggle between Tata Sons and the Trusts, which together own a two-thirds stake in the conglomerate. Complicating matters, TVS Motor leased 17 acres in Krishnagiri to Hanno One Warehousing, a company incorporated in March 2025 with Chandrasekaran’s wife Lalitha and son Pranav as directors, and later received a ₹60 crore loan from HDFC Bank for a warehouse project. The transaction was disclosed to Tata Sons in April 2025 but not to the Trusts, and both parties claim Srinivasan did not inform them. Earlier, Srinivasan had lodged a complaint with a charity regulator about the governance of the Sir Ratan Tata Trust, prompting a deferment of Tata Sons’ annual shareholder meeting due to quorum issues.