Former Executive Director (Finance) and Company Secretary of Brakes India T.T. Rangaswamy (TTR) passed away at his home on Wednesday morning.
He was 97. He is survived by his wife Vimala, two sons - T.T. Narendran (former Professor at IIT Madras) and T.T. Srinivasaraghavan (former MD Sundaram Finance Ltd.) - daughters-in-law and grandchildren. He led a simple life and was ever accessible.
Rangaswamy had an over 5-decade association with the TVS group. He served many TVS Group companies such as Lucas TVS, Brakes India and Turbo Energy.
“Sri TTR combined what was the best about the old tradition and what is good about the current. He held on to his personal way of managing matters and never relied on technology. That also explains why he was never wrong. He connected individually with everyone. I have enjoyed his love and affection ever since I got to know him.
“He was a very thorough professional, very kind and encouraging. He had a sharp memory and would quote events from the years gone by. He was truly a divine figure who looked after us like a father. I am sorry to lose him,” said Srinivas Acharya, former managing director of Sundaram Home Finance. Mr. Acharya had known Rangaswamy for many decades.
Rangaswamy had an enviable academic background. He had the triple professional degree, being a Chartered Accountant, Cost Accountant and a Company Secretary - quite a significant achievement in the 1940s and 50s.
In the 1950s, he worked at Standard Vacuum Oil Company in Delhi and Bombay. When Padi, in Chennai, was undergoing a major metamorphosis and transforming into an industrial landscape, with the setting up of several manufacturing plants by the TVS Group, TS Santhanam, who founded Sundaram Finance in 1954 and also invested in many of these start-ups, roped in TTR for the finance role at Lucas TVS. That saw TTR relocate from Bombay to Padi.
His day would typically begin very early, starting out from his home in Kasturi Estates to the Padi plant at 7 a.m. For several decades, starting from 1960, this had been his routine. The 1960s and 70s were an exciting growth phase for the companies in the TVS Group and TTR turned out to be the trusted lieutenant of auto legend Santhanam. He retired from Brakes India as ED - Finance (modern day CFO) and Company Secretary.
When his son TT Srinivasaraghavan (who retired from Sundaram Finance in March this year after 18 years as MD) started out on a career at Sundaram Finance in the early 1980s, TTR handed him a great life message that stayed with him right through his corporate life. “He was always for leading a simple life and wanted me to be approachable to everyone,” he said. People Management is the most important skill, TTS remembers his father telling him at a young age. “Even though my father was in finance, he saw the people connect as important. It was from him that I learnt to put people first,” Srinivasaraghavan said.
N.S. Ranganathan, a renowned Prabhandham scholar, recalls how Rangaswamy had been a guiding force in his life. Ranganathan has released CDs on Nalayira Divya Prabhandham and Desikar Prabhandham. His father was the priest at the Vedantha Desikar Srinivasa Perumal Temple in Mylapore for several decades. Ranganathan has known TT Rangaswamy for five decades. According to him, Rangaswamy was a regular at the temple at all the utsavams. “Soon after my graduation, it was Shri. Rangaswamy who directed me to Turbo Energy and helped secure a job as a steno in 1989. Over the last three decades, he was my guiding force both at work and in my personal life. Though he was at the top level at Brakes India, he was always approachable. He had a big heart and was one with a special human touch. He was always sensitive to human issues. I could share any grievance with him and he would always come up with the perfect solution,” he said.
Ranganathan has now grown to become the leader of the Secretarial Department at Turbo Energy. Yet, he has a big regret. “Shri TTR always wanted me to do ACS and pushed me a lot but somehow I could not get down to doing that. That is one wish of his I could not fulfil,” he said.
Though Rangaswamy had become a little immobile in recent times, his memory remained razor sharp till the very end and he kept himself abreast of the happenings in the industry and economy, according to TT Srinivasaraghavan.
