Venu Srinivasan and Anand Mahindra conferred Padma Bhushan

The President of India, Ram Nath Kovind presented three Padma Vibhushan, eight Padma Bhushan and 61 Padma Shri Awards for the year 2020, at the Civil Investiture Ceremony-II yesterday evening (November 8, 2021) at Rashtrapati Bhavan, in the presence of Vice-President of India, Prime Minister, Union Minister for Home Affairs and other dignitaries. India Auto Inc’s Venu Srinivasan and Anand Mahindra were among those conferred with the Padma Bhushan for their distinguished servies in the field of trade and industry. 

This is the second such honour for the two automotive industry stlwarts. In 2010, Mr Srinivasan, along with Mr Anand Mahindra, Chairman of the Mahindra Group, was conferred the coveted Padma Shri Award for 'distinguished service in trade and industry'

The Padma Awards, one of the highest civilian awards of the country, are conferred in three categories: Padma Vibhushan (for exceptional and distinguished service), Padma Bhushan (for distinguished service of high order) and Padma Shri (for distinguished service in any field). Venu Srinivasan and Anand Mahindra have been recognised for their distinguished service in trade and industry with the Padma Bhushan.

Venu Srinivasan: Passion for TQM
TVS Motor Co's Venu Srinivasan is known to be passionate about his commitment to society through a unique model of village development in South India. Mr Srinivasan is the Chairman of the TVS Group which includes Sundaram-Clayton  and TVS Motor Company, one of India’s leading two-wheeler and three-wheeler manufacturers. 

Mr Srinivasan is also the Managing Trustee of Srinivasan Services Trust which he set up in 1996. The Trust operates in over 5,000 villages and some of its thrust areas include empowerment of women and afforestation. 

A former president of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), he has shown with the success of TVS, how an Indian company can grow to be a company of global quality and recognition and manufacture products that can match or even exceed the best in the world by adopting the right work ethos and successful work culture.

Mr Srinivasan began his career as a mechanic in his own garage during vacations and put in long, gruelling hours of preparation for his task ahead. In 1979 Venu Srinivasan an engineer and an MBA from Purdue University (USA) took over as the CEO of Sundaram-Clayton. The same year TVS Motor Company was born, and under his persistent and diligent work grew to be the third largest two-wheeler OEM in India.

A visionary, Mr Srinivasan pioneered the TQM (Total Quality Management) concept based on the Japanese model, long before most enterprises in India did. His single-minded focus on excellence and quality bore rich dividends with Sundaram Clayton and TVS Motor Company winning the global quality benchmark - the Deming Application Prize in 2002.

Many more awards and honours followed, including the prestigious Deming ‘Distinguished Service Award For Dissemination and Promotion Overseas’.  He is the first industrialist from India to receive the prestigious award for his contributions in the field of TQM.

As the past president of CII and chairman of the National Committee for Quality, Mr Srinivasan has played an active role in accelerating TQM promotion. Over 100,000 practicing managers were trained on TQM methods, and over 40 Indian companies have won the Deming Prize with India becoming the second largest country to have Deming prize winners.

Anand Mahindra: Driving change across the spectrum 
Mr Anand Mahindra is the Chairman of the Mahindra Group, the Executive Chairman of Mahindra & Mahindra and the Non-Executive Chairman of Tech Mahindra.

His tenure has seen the Group expand domestically and internationally into a range of major industrial sectors from automobiles and agriculture to IT and aerospace. The Group has also grown inorganically through acquisitions such as Swaraj Tractors, Reva Electric Car Company, Satyam Computer Services, Peugeot Motorcycles, Aerostaff Australia, Holiday Club Resorts, and Pininfarina SpA.

He has served on several influential bodies globally, including the Global Board of Advisors of the Council on Foreign Relations, New York and the International Advisory Council of Singapore’s Economic Development Board. He is currently on the board of Invest India, the National Investment Promotion and Facilitation Agency. Mr. Mahindra has been named in Barron's List of Top 30 CEOs worldwide (2016) and Fortune Magazine’s list of the World’s 50 Greatest Leaders (2014). He was appointed ‘Knight in the National Order of the Legion of Honour’ by the President of the French Republic (2016).

Mr Mahindra is an incisive business commentator and humanitarian with over 8 million followers on Twitter. Among his many social change initiatives is the Nanhi Kali programme, which, for the last two decades, has provided over 330,000 under-privileged girls access to high quality education. Climate change and the environment was among the topics that Anand Mahindra, Chairman of the Mahindra Group, spoke about at Mahindra & Mahindra’s 75th annual general meeting, held virtually on August 7.

Mr Mahindra, who is among more than 70 global members of The Alliance of CEO Climate Leaders, also has a sharp focus and concern about the growing connect and social impact of business and the environment.  

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