Vellayan Subbiah of TII named EY World Entrepreneur of the year 2024

India has now become the only country among EY regions to win the global entrepreneurship award four times

Vellayan Subbiah, Executive Vice-Chairman of Tube Investments of India (TII) and Chairman of Cholamandalam Investment and Finance Co Ltd., has been named the EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year 2024.

Subbiah is the fourth Indian to receive this coveted award. Earlier it was given to NR Narayana Murthy, Uday Kotak and Kiran Majumdar Shaw.

And with this award, India has become the only country among EY regions to win the global entrepreneurship award four times.

He was earlier awarded the EY Entrepreneur of the Year for India in 2023. 

Subbiah holds a Bachelor of Technology in Civil Engineering from IIT Madras and a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Michigan, USA.

He began his career as an engineer and then a strategic consultant.

He was the Managing Director of Cholamandalam Investment and Finance between August 19, 2010 and August 18, 2017.

After successfully navigating Chola through the fallout of a troubled partnership during these years, Subbiah was appointed the Chairman of the Murugappa group firm in November 2020. 

Since then, he has been credited with growing the market capitalisation of the company by 60 times.

In 2018, he was appointed the MD of Tube Investments of India (TII), a 70-year-old manufacturing company. Since taking over he’s helped TII’s share price grow 13 times.

Notably, TII’s subsidiary, CG Power has recently commenced building India’s first outsourced semiconductor and test facility.

“I am deeply honoured and grateful to be recognised as the EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year,” Subbiah said on receiving the award in Monaco.

“As part of a fourth-generation family business, the spirit of entrepreneurship runs deep within me. I am inspired by those who came before me and those who will follow. I firmly believe that by approaching challenges as opportunities and committing ourselves to a path of self-improvement, there is no limit to what we can achieve,” Subbiah said.

Rajiv Memani, chairman and chief executive officer at EY India, said, “Vellayan has grown and transformed his businesses to a remarkable scale through a customer-centric approach, innovation and long-term sustainability at the core.”

Carmine Di Sibio, EY Global Chairman and CEO, added that Subbiah’s story goes “far beyond numbers”.

“His humble and personable approach to leadership and his philosophy of enabling others to ‘enter a better life’ are the embodiment of what it means to be EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year,” Sibio said.

Subbiah was selected from among nearly 5,000 program participants that included 51 winners across 47 countries and jurisdictions competing for the global title.

This year’s award was given based on four criteria: entrepreneurial spirit, purpose, growth and impact.

In the past decade, three winners have been named from India: Uday Kotak in 2014, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw in 2020, and now Vellayan in 2024. Narayana Murthy won the award in 2003.