Meet Arathi Krishna, the new managing director of Sundram Fasteners

True to the belief of her father and chairman Suresh Krishna, she has ascended not as part of a succession plan but earned her position after investing over two-and-a-half decades in the company

Arathi Krishna, 49, the daughter of Sundram Fasteners chairman and manufacturing veteran Suresh Krishna, has ‘earned’ her latest position as the company’s managing director. True to her father's belief that her ascension should not be a succession plan but a deserved earning, Arathi invested over two-and-a-half decades in the company, a period during which she rise from the lowest position at Sundram Fasteners.

The second among Suresh Krishna’s three daughters, Arathi was the first woman in her family to join the business.

Today, apart from her and younger sister Arundhati, there are several women from the family holding key positions across the $7.2-billion TVS group – Preetha Muthanna at Sundaram Industries, TVS Tyres MD Shobana Ramachandran and Lakshmi Venu at Sundaram Clayton, to name a few. Mallika Srinivasan, wife of TVS Motor Chairman Venu Srinivasan, is the chairperson of TAFE, a tractor and agriculture equipment manufacturing company.

A gold medalist in Economics, Arathi completed her master of business administration (MBA) course from the University of Michigan Business School. After on-the-job training in automotive-related business in the US, she started her career in 1990, when she was 20, as a management trainee at Sundram Fasteners. She became the company’s manager for business strategy and systems in 1993, and general manager in 1998. “I had an easy transition into the company and was easily accepted by employees,” she said in an interview.

She used to go to the shop floor, interact with employees and try to understand technologies, in a company that had a record of never losing a day's work because of labour issues, according to observers of the company.

Known to be media-shy, soft-spoken but result-oriented and tough when it comes to work, Arathi has acquired wide managerial and business administration skills through her experience in India and abroad. It was under her leadership that the company forayed in sectors like aviation and wind energy.

She was first appointed to the company’s board in 2006 as managing director (designated as executive director), and later in 2011 re-appointed as managing director (designated as joint managing director).

The company’s consistent growth during the past decade has come with her, along with other family members, at the helm of affairs. She has her expertise in corporate strategy and general management, and under her leadership several new product lines have been set up and stabilised at the company, leading to a robust growth and operating performance, say sources at Sundram.

Arathi was also instrumental in making the workforce at Sundram Fasteners younger, and the work culture more performance-based and technology-oriented. At present, the average age of employees at the company is 35 year.

The Rs 31.59-billion company manufactures product including high-tensile fasteners, powder metal components, cold extruded parts, hot forged components, radiator caps, automotive pumps, gear shifters, gears and couplings, hubs and shafts, tappets and iron powder.

Over the years, the company has acquired cutting-edge technological competencies in forging, metal forming, close-tolerance machining, heat treatment, surface finishing and assembly.