Indian billionaire Venu Srinivasan's wife and daughter challenge his wealth split

Indian billionaire Venu Srinivasan, chairman emeritus of motorcycle and scooter maker TVS Motor Co., is in an open dispute with his wife and daughter over who owns the family's fortune, after he said the businesses were his alone to divide between his two children.

In a written statement issued on Oct. 11, Srinivasan said he had separated the family's businesses between his son, Sudarshan Venu, and his daughter, Lakshmi Venu, "openly, transparently, with the knowledge of and after careful consultation with my family."

"The businesses and assets were mine, and I had the full liberty to deal with it as I deemed fit," he said. Lakshmi "was given to take forward and grow the SCL business," a reference to auto components maker Sundaram-Clayton Ltd., while Sudarshan "was given to take forward and grow the motors business," he said. "The separation was always about ownership and control."

A day later, his wife, Mallika Srinivasan, and Lakshmi Venu rejected that account in a joint statement. "No economic settlement has been reached within the Venu Srinivasan family," they said. "The fundamental issue is not about management positions which have been compensated appropriately and commensurately. It is about the fair recognition of rightful economic ownership, which remains unresolved."

The two women said family assets do not belong to one person who can distribute them on his own, and called for "an early, fair and amicable resolution."

What the 2024 agreement covers

At the center of the fight is a memorandum of understanding that all four family members signed in March 2024. TVS Holdings Ltd., the family's listed holding company, disclosed the agreement to Indian stock exchanges on March 22, 2024, and said it was not a party to it.

According to that filing, the agreement built on a broader family settlement dated Dec. 10, 2020, and set out how the TVS brand could be used. Sudarshan Venu agreed not to use the TVS name in aluminium and magnesium die-casting and not to compete in businesses including tractors for a set period. Mallika Srinivasan and Lakshmi Venu agreed not to use the brand in two- and three-wheelers, financial services and real estate, and not to compete in two- and three-wheeler businesses for a set period.

Srinivasan said the 2024 arrangement "was accepted, implemented, and concluded after taking into account their views and interests," and that each child was given "a fair share on which they were and are free to build." His wife and daughter say the agreement dealt with brand rights and non-compete terms and was never a final settlement of ownership or wealth.

They point to the 2020 partition of the wider TVS group among branches of founder T.V. Sundaram Iyengar's family, which they say was carried out with the consent of everyone involved. No comparable process took place inside the Venu Srinivasan household, they said.

Who holds the shares

The gap between the two businesses is large. TVS Motor, run by Sudarshan Venu as chairman and managing director, has a stock market value of about $20 billion. Sundaram-Clayton, where Lakshmi Venu is managing director, is a much smaller maker of aluminium die-cast parts.

TVS Holdings owns 50.26% of TVS Motor. A shareholding disclosure by TVS Holdings for the quarter ended June 30 shows VS Trust, with Venu Srinivasan as trustee, holding 66.55% of the holding company. The same filing lists both Srinivasan and Sudarshan Venu as significant beneficial owners of that stake, with Sudarshan's interest recorded from April 16, 2025. Lakshmi Venu holds 0.82% of TVS Holdings directly and Mallika Srinivasan holds 0.29%.

Lakshmi Venu said in an interview on Oct. 12 that she learned from news reports that her father and brother had taken control of TVS Motor, and that she had been unable to open a discussion with her father about succession for 18 months.

The tractor business

Srinivasan has also said the division took account of expectations around Tractors and Farm Equipment Ltd., the tractor maker run by his wife, where Lakshmi Venu is vice chairman. Mallika Srinivasan and Lakshmi Venu reject that link. TAFE belongs to the Amalgamations Group, a separate family business group in which Mallika Srinivasan is a shareholder, they said, adding that "TAFE has no bearing on the economic settlement within the Venu Srinivasan family."

No court case over the dispute has been made public.

The family fight comes as Srinivasan, 73, is also caught up in a separate boardroom battle at Tata Trusts, the charities that control India's Tata Group, where he is a vice chairman. He and fellow trustee Vijay Singh have asked the Maharashtra Charity Commissioner to investigate governance at the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust, and replies to their complaint are due on Oct. 19. Tata Trusts Chairman Noel Tata has denied their charges.

Srinivasan took charge of Sundaram-Clayton in 1979 and built TVS Motor into one of India's largest makers of motorcycles and scooters. He stepped back as chairman of TVS Motor in August 2025, when Sudarshan Venu took over the role.