Daughter M R Jyothy steps out of the shadows to become MD at Jyothy Labs

Come April 2020 and a new face will lead the Mumbai-based consumer goods firm Jyothy Labs. On Friday, chairman and managing director M P Ramachandran announced that his elder daughter M R Jyothy would take over as managing director (MD), while his younger daughter M R Deepthi would be whole-time director, when he steps down from the board from April 1 next year. 

The announcement has put the spotlight on 40-year-old Jyothy, who’s been a whole-time director at her namesake company since 2005 and been quietly driving brand strategy and communication for the last few years. Her sister is general manager (finance), and assistant company secretary. Jyothy is expected to be groomed for a year by Kamath and other seniors, said people in the know. 

Independent director R Lakshminarayanan will take over as chairman of the board while Ramachandran will be chairman emeritus.

More importantly, Jyothy will now play an active role in business management — so far handled by Kamath and Ramachandran.