Mallika Srinivasan

About

Feisty, in one word, best describes Mallika Srinivasan. As a young mother, decades ago, Srinivasan had shown her mettle when she carried her infant daughter, Lakshmi Venu, to the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania for her MBA. Years later, when American agriculture behemoth AGCO tried to take away the Massey Ferguson brand, long held by Srinivasan’s Chennai-based TAFE, the 66-year-old was once again at her feisty best. After a year-long legal battle, Srinivasan’s TAFE and AGCO reached a settlement. TAFE retained the exclusive rights to the Massey Ferguson brand in India, Nepal, and Bhutan. It would also continue to retain its 16.3% stake in AGCO and participate in future buyback programmes. “Her positive energy rubs off on the rest of us,” Lakshmi, vice chairman of TAFE, says about her mother. TAFE operates four tractor brands—Massey Ferguson, TAFE, Eicher Tractors, and IMT—and exports tractors to more than 80 countries in Asia, Africa, Europe, the Americas, and Russia. Last year, TAFE sold over 200,000 tractors and retained its position as India’s second-largest tractor maker, clocking in revenues in excess of ₹13,000 crore. In 2024, Srinivasan was appointed the chair of the Centre’s selection board to pick heads of PSUs, a position she continues to hold.