Shriram Group founder R Thyagarajan on Tuesday announced a succession plan with the formation of a board of management to drive the strategy for the group. Shriram Group’s promotership has been transferred to Shriram Ownership Trust (SOT), which holds stake in the holding company Shriram Capital.
“This promotership rests with the trust and not with an individual or family,” said Thyagarajan at a press briefing.
The trust’s new board of management constitutes four key personnel namely, DV Ravi, Managing Director, Shriram Capital, R. Duruvasan, Whole-time Director, Shriram Capital, Umesh Revankar, Non-Executive Director, Shriram Capital & VC & MD, Shriram Transport Finance Company and Jasmit Singh Gujral, Non-executive Director, Shriram Capital & Executive VC for Shriram General Insurance Company.
The officials who will be moving to the board of the promoter company will step down from their individual roles. Transition for the individual companies will be put in place over the next few weeks and months.
The board of management will be responsible for defining the long-term strategy of the individual entities and the group and overseeing its execution.
The board members will manage essential areas that impact the group across entities and may not necessarily be aligned to one particular entity. "They will collaborate amongst themselves in a manner that will derive the optimum benefit to the group,” Thyagarajan said.
During the last few years, there have been apprehensions about the succession planning of the Shriram Group. “Though I have indicated that succession has been transitioned to SOT at various forums, there is an expectation of more insight on this transition, ”Thyagarajan added.
With the new leadership in place, founder R. Thyagarajan will mentor the Board of Management.
Thyagarajan also made it clear that the leadership change is not part of the restructuring exercise that the group has been planning for long. Shriram Capital has been exploring the merger of its two lending companies - Shriram Transport Finance Ltd and Shriram City Union Finance Ltd.
Shriram Capital is the holding company for businesses, ranging from financial services and insurance to asset management. This includes listed entities Shriram City Union Finance and Shriram Transport Finance. Shriram Capital holds about 25.56% in Shriram Transport Finance and 33.86% in Shriram City Union Finance, as per exchange data.
