TVS Capital has appointed Murli Ramachandran, an operational manager, as an Executive Director. He will work with the private equity firm's portfolio companies, helping them in their operations. Ramachandran has 24 years of operational experience, and before joining TVS Capital, he was Managing Director of Sanmar Speciality Chemicals Ltd. He has also worked with the likes of RPG Group, Eicher, Colgate-Palmolive and Johnson & Johnson.
PE and venture capital firms are increasingly appointing operational managers as partners in the firms to add value to the portfolio companies. Sequoia Capital India started this trend with three partner level people from the operational world. Naresh Malhotra, the former CEO of Café Coffee Day, Mohit Bhatnagar, the former head of VAS at Bharti, and R Ramaraj, the former CEO of Sify, are partners in the fund. Recently, Nexus India Capital hired Pradeep Guha, former CEO of Zee India, as an advisor.
"With Murli joining our team, we have further strengthened our ability to deliver value to both our investors and our investees. Murli, with his wide experience in consulting and operations, will play a key role in TVS Capital's partnerships with entrepreneurs -- in helping develop and nurture world class entrepreneurs from India and in helping them enhance and unlock the value in their businesses," said Gopal Srinivasan, CMD, TVS Capital Funds Ltd.
At RPG Group, Ramachandran worked at business improvement and IT initiatives. After that as Managing Director of RPG Life Sciences Ltd, he led the turnaround at this pharmaceutical arm of the group. Ramachandran has a B.E. (Honours) degree in Mechanical Engineering and an M.M.S. from BITS, Pilani and an M.S. degree in Industrial Engineering from Columbia University, New York, USA.
TVS Capital currently manages TVS Shriram Growth Fund, a Rs 600 crore domestic rupee fund floated by the TVS Group family and the Shriram Transport Finance group last year. It, along with Helion Ventures, has invested in media start-up 9.9 Mediaworx Pvt. Ltd.
