My appointment will bring about much-needed diversity: Valli Arunachalam 

In an e-mail interaction, Arunachalam said if given a board representation she would exercise her duties with due and reasonable care, skill, and diligence.

After Ambadi Investments, the holding firm of the Murugappa Group, agreed to consider the candidature of Valli Arunachalam for appointment on its board at its forthcoming annual general meeting on September 21 — if appointed she would be the first woman to hold this position in the century-old group — she told FE that the development would be the first step in the ongoing discussions with the family to amicably settle her family branch’s stake in the group.

In an e-mail interaction, Arunachalam said if given a board representation she would exercise her duties with due and reasonable care, skill, and diligence. This includes promoting the objects of the company for the benefit of its members as a whole, and in the best interests of the company, its employees, the shareholders, the community and also the environment.

“As a senior technocrat, with tremendous experience in business, I propose to leverage all of that experience and contribute to the growth of the Group’s business. Also, my appointment will bring much-needed diversity to the board. I do intend to open up the holding company boardroom to new ideas, richer debates, and different perspectives,” she said.

Arunachalam, 59, her sister and their mother hold an 8.15% stake in Ambadi Investments (AIL). A nuclear engineer by training, she is the eldest daughter of former executive chairman MV Murugappa, who died in 2017. She says that she was denied a board position in AIL despite being her father’s heir.

“My father, during his lifetime, represented our branch of the family on the AIL board, and it would have been in the interest of fairness that we had a board seat when he passed away, as we are a significant shareholder and promoter, Therefore, I see this as a positive development,” Arunachalam said, adding, “Our point has been simple, given our family has limited involvement in the businesses of the operating companies after my father passed away, we should be settled and the family or the company can absorb our Ambadi stake. This is consistent with my father’s wishes”.

Under the Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act, 2005, women can become the karta or head of the family and daughters can become coparceners and inherit as much as sons. Arunachalam is karta of the MVM Hindu undivided family, which holds the stake in Ambadi Investments.

Murugappa Group has 28 businesses including nine listed companies. Major Group companies include Carborundum Universal , Cholamandalam Investment and Finance Company, Cholamandalam MS General Insurance Company, Coromandel International, Coromandel Engineering Company, EID Parry (India), Parry Agro Industries, Shanthi Gears, Tube Investments of India, TI Financial Holdings and Wendt (India).