Family assets don’t belong to one individual: Venu Srinivasan’s family says no settlement has been reached

Venu Srinivasan’s wife Mallika Srinivasan and daughter Lakshmi Venu have stated that the family has not reached an economic settlement. They emphasised that the family’s assets cannot be treated as belonging to a single individual with the power to distribute them unilaterally.

In a statement on Monday, they said the economic interests within the family remain unresolved. They called for a fair settlement based on transparent valuation, discussion, and mutual consent.

"No economic settlement has been reached within the Venu Srinivasan family. The larger TVS family partition, agreed in 2020 and implemented subsequently, was undertaken through a process involving the relevant stakeholders," Lakshmi Venu and Mallika Srinivasan said in the statement as mentioned in a report in news agency PTI.

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The differences surfaced amid succession questions within the TVS family. In 2020, the 115-year-old TVS industrial group was divided among different branches of founder TV Sundaram Iyengar’s family through an arrangement involving asset valuation, mutually agreed allocation, and compensation.

However, Mallika and Lakshmi said no similar process has taken place within the Venu Srinivasan family. They added that a memorandum of understanding signed in March 2024 covered the use of the TVS brand across business segments and a non-compete agreement but did not constitute an economic settlement.

The statement came after TVS Holdings disclosed that Sudarshan Venu, Venu Srinivasan’s son and chairman and managing director of TVS Motor Company, had been named a significant beneficial owner through trust structures.

Venu Srinivasan is chairman emeritus of TVS Motor. According to TVS Holdings’ annual report, the family and promoter group hold a 74.45% stake in the company, with Srinivasan holding 66.55% through VS Trust. TVS Holdings owns 56% of TVS Motor.

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Lakshmi Venu, who heads automotive component maker Sundaram-Clayton, has been seeking dialogue to reach a fair settlement, as per reports. Mallika is understood to be encouraging family members to resolve their differences amicably.

The two also said the allocation of management responsibilities did not divide family assets or extinguish the economic interests of other family members.

Separately, Mallika clarified that TAFE belongs to a different family business group in which she is a shareholder and has no bearing on the settlement within the Venu Srinivasan family. "TAFE forms part of the amalgamations Group, a separate family business group in which Mallika Srinivasan is a shareholder. TAFE has no bearing on the economic settlement within the Venu Srinivasan family and should not be conflated with it,” the statement said.

"The fundamental issue is not about management positions which have been compensated appropriately and commensurately. It is about the fair recognition of rightful economic ownership, which remains unresolved. We believe that an early, fair and amicable resolution is in the best interests of the family, its businesses and all their stakeholders,” they said.