Murugappa Group revamp: 20-yr-old corporate advisory board to be disbanded

Instead of the board, which was managed by a family member and five outsiders, the group and individual companies will now be led by senior family members

The Rs 38,000-crore Murugappa group has decided to dismantle its two-decade-old non-statutory Murugappa Corporate Advisory Board. Instead of the board, which was, which was led by a family member and five outsiders, the group and individual companies will now be led by senior family members.
 
Until recently, M M Murugappan was the chairman of the advisory board. Three Murugappa group companies – Coromandel International, Cholamandalam Investment and Finance Company and Tube Investments of India – on November 11 announced that Murugappan was superannuating and that additional directors were being appointed to their respective boards.
 
Sources said that Murugappan retired after turning 65, in keeping with an unwritten rule that Murugappa family members have followed over generations. In 2018, A Vellayan had resigned after turning 65, and before that M A Alagappan had stepped down at the same age in 2009.
 
Vellayan, a senior member of the Murugappa family, confirmed this to Business Standard and said “instead of the advisory (the Murugappa Corporate Advisory Board), we will be playing a direct role in the companies by mentoring youngsters and professionals in the companies."
 
"We are coming back just to guide the professionals and youngsters from the family. During the current situation we felt it was important that each one of us in our area of expertise should guide the professionals and youngsters going forward," said Vellayan, adding that the next couple of years will be challenging due to the pandemic.
 
“We will work together as a group and family. In the current environment (with market uncertainties) this is more important,” he told Business Standard.

 
The non-statutory board was formed in January 2000 as part of a ‘new millennium strategy’ and new corporate governance structure. It was touted as a pioneering move for corporate governance. Now, senior members of the family, including Vellayan and Murugappan, will return to mentoring and guiding gen-next members in a new avatar, said family members and company officials.
 
Vellayan, 67, who was elected to the Coromandel International board as its chairman with effect from November 12, 2020, did not respond to a query from Business Standard. Vellayan Subbiah was elected as the chairman of the board of Cholamandalam Investment, the NBFC arm of the Murugappa group.
 
V Ravichandran, one of the advisory board members, will continue as chairman of EIDParry, while another member of the board, Ramesh K B Menon, has now been made director in Coromandel International.
 
Founded in 1900, the group is one of India’s leading business conglomerates, with 28 businesses, including nine listed companies traded on the BSE and the National Stock Exchange.