Southern industrialists are not conservative or risk-averse and have set certain rules within which they operate while entering new arenas, said top industry veterans.
Participating in the launch of The Hindu BusinessLine’s Table Talk: Conversation with Leaders, R. Seshasayee, chairman IndusInd Bank, and A. Vellayan, former executive chairman, Murugappa Group, narrated their experiences of venturing into a relatively unknown space, while answering a question.
While heading Ashok Leyland, Mr. Seshasayee said, he started Transport Exchange, an electronic platform, akin to modern day aggregators such as Uber. “At that time, there were lot of brokers and transport operators. And there was no system to link them. Initially, we made some losses. It had to be closed down as there were no private equity players to back us with funds,” he said.
Murugappa Group’s Cholamandalam Finance featured among the first list of companies to receive RBI’s nod to start a payments bank. “We had a discussion with the top management, which asked us to go ahead. However, the next day, in a meeting, ratings agency officials explained why we shouldn’t go ahead with the plan. We did not feel comfortable since we might incur losses for the first five to seven years. That’s why we decided to return the licence,” Mr. Vellayan said.
‘Took risks’
Mr. Vellayan, who dealt with sugar, cycles and fertilizers, also said that he took certain risks during his tenure. “We played by the rules. We had set norms to have debt equity at a particular level and not dilute promoters’ stake beyond a certain limit.” Table Talk is a compilation of conversations between journalists of BusinessLine and businessmen, politicians and sportspersons.
