TVS Group will grow by 15 %, focus to be automobile: Suresh Krishna

Group chairman says growth is conservative but will continue

TVS Group on Tuesday said it will grow at around 15% and will continue to focus automobile industry, as it believes it is a sunrise industry. Currently 95% of the revenue comes from the automobile sector.

With a combined turnover of more than over $6.5 billion , the TVS Group employs a total workforce of about 39,000 employees. Charting a steady growth path of expansion and diversification, it currently comprises around over 50 companies. 

Suresh Krishna took over as Chairman of TVS & Sons, the holding company of TVS Group, five months back.

India currently produces two million cars, besides millions of tractors and other commercial vehicles, but it should be producing around 10-20 million cars, 30-40 million two-wheelers, and 3-4 million CVs, Krishna told Business Standard. 
 

"Automotive industry in India is a sunrise industry and it has great future for the 10-20 years. We have huge internal market," he said.
 

"TVS is in a fantastic industry. By and large 95 per cent of TVS effort goes into supply of automotive industry in domestic and international markets. The group can only grow, it cannot stagnate," said Krishna, adding that most of the group companies are market leaders in their sectors.

"Growth has been very good and it will be better," he said.

"We are not explosive, we are conservative but we have grown and will continue to grow. We managed to get respect, so it means we are doing right things," he said..
 

TVS Group will outpace GDP growth and can grow at 15%.

On opening doors of private companies in the Group to public or investors, he said a few of them would be. PE funds backed TVS Logistics is going to go public and it will be a very big IPO. He did not comment more on this.

On exports, he said, currently 30% of the produce in the Group are exported while per centage may remain at the level the actual quantum would go up considering overall revenue would go up.

Sundaram Clayton is putting up a casting unit in US, Brakes India is in Oman, Sundaram Fasteners already put a plant in China and UK.

"Lot of companies (in the Group) are looking at outside not only to get technologies and manufacturing but also to be close to the customers and. TVS got brand equity and it is most important. Trust has to be earned and it cannot be bought," said Krishna.