Vellayan new chairman of Murugappa Group

M A Alagappan, Executive Chairman of the Murugappa Group, announced today that he would relinquish charge by the end of October this year. He will be handing over the chairmanship to A Vellayan, currently the Vice Chairman and Director-Strategy of the Murugappa Corporate Board (MCB).

M M Murugappan, currently director on the board will succeed A Vellayan as the Vice Chairman. N Srinivasan, Director-Finance and Sridhar Ganesh, Director-Human Resources will continue to head their respective functions in the board. Deepak Satwalekar, Venkatraman Thyagarajan and Sridar Iyengar continue as independent directors of the board.

Alagappan has led many of the major businesses of the Murugappa Group. He was the driving force behind the group’s entry and growth in the financial services businesses.

Vellayan, who has pioneered many innovative business solutions for the Murugappa Group, brings with him vast experience in managing diverse businesses. He holds a Diploma in Industrial Administration from the University of Aston, UK and a Master’s Degree in Business Studies from the Warwick Business School, UK. He is the Chairman of EID Parry, and Coromandel Fertilisers (CFL).

M M Murugappan has significant experience in spearheading the engineering and technology-based businesses of the group. He has led these businesses to newer geographies.

He holds a Master of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Michigan, USA and is a member of the American and Indian Institutes of Chemical Engineers, the Indian Ceramic Society and the Plastics and Rubber Institute.