TVS family rift: Why the Venu Srinivasan family pact might be falling apart

Differences between Sudarshan Venu and Lakshmi Venu have brought the family’s succession agreement into focus, raising questions over how its business interests and wealth will be divided.

A pact drawn up between four members of the Venu Srinivasan family, with the world’s third-largest two-wheeler manufacturer at its centre, might be falling apart.

On October 9, the Economic Times reported that differences had emerged between Sudarshan Venu and Lakshmi Venu, the son and daughter of billionaire Venu Srinivasan and Mallika Srinivasan, over a family pact signed a few years ago as part of their succession planning.

At the centre of the dispute is whether the businesses entrusted to the children as part of the succession plan will form the basis for the division of wealth. If so, Sudarshan Venu, who looks after TVS Motor, will inherit a significantly larger share of the wealth, as the automaker has a staggering market value of ₹1.86 lakh crore.

Sudarshan Venu is the chairman and managing director of TVS Motor and the managing director of TVS Holdings. Lakshmi Venu oversees the ₹24,000-crore Sundaram Clayton, now renamed TVS Holdings, and has been vice chairperson of Tractors and Farm Equipment Ltd (TAFE) since March 2025. Venu Srinivasan’s wife, Mallika Srinivasan, is TAFE’s chairperson, and TAFE is currently India’s second-largest tractor maker. Lakshmi Venu and her mother, Mallika Srinivasan, are now seeking clarity on how the pact governs inheritance.

Succession pact at the centre of TVS family rift

According to a 2024 succession plan, Lakshmi would succeed her mother in leading TAFE, founded in 1960 by her maternal grandfather as a joint venture between Massey Ferguson (part of the AGCO Group) and the Chennai-based Amalgamations Group, while her brother Sudarshan Venu would oversee TVS Motor. The 80-year-old Amalgamations Group is one of India’s largest light engineering groups, comprising 40 companies that make everything from diesel engines to automobile components. It also owns Higginbothams Pvt. Ltd.

The agreement also ensures that Sudarshan cannot use “TVS”, “Sundaram” or “Sundram” for die-casting, in which Venu and Lakshmi have exclusive rights. Mallika and Lakshmi cannot use those names for the TVS Holdings businesses. The rights cannot be changed, and the agreement remains in force indefinitely. It also ensures that Srinivasan and Sudarshan cannot enter the tractor or die-casting businesses or own shares or voting rights in companies operating in either business. Mallika and Lakshmi face the same restrictions in the automobile business.

In April this year, reports emerged of a rift between Venu Srinivasan and Lakshmi Venu after Lakshmi pushed to remove company secretary P.D. Dev Kishan, who reported to TVS Holdings’ finance chief rather than to her. After the board initially accepted the resignation, Venu Srinivasan stepped back in, convened an emergency board meeting, overturned the decision and returned as chairman and managing director of Sundaram-Clayton.

In 2020, the four branches of the TVS Group agreed to split their holding structures to eliminate cross-holdings and align corporate ownership directly with the family branches that manage them. The family reached this agreement on December 10, 2020, following a valuation and settlement process. The family differences come at a critical time for Venu Srinivasan, who has taken centre stage in the Tata Sons succession crisis. Venu has backed Tata Sons Chairman N. Chandrasekaran for a third five-year term, while Noel Tata, the chairman of the Tata Trusts, is on the other side.