Indian motorcycle billionaire Venu Srinivasan's TVS changed rules before $51 million family sale

TVS Holdings Ltd., the listed holding company controlled by Indian billionaire Venu Srinivasan, changed the rules that decide which family deals need shareholder approval four months before it sold its real estate business to a promoter-group company for ₹485.85 crore ($51 million).

The company revised its related-party transaction policy on Aug. 8, 2024, replacing a version dated Feb. 5, 2020, its filings show. On Dec. 31, 2024, it sold its entire stake in TVS Emerald Ltd., a property developer in the southern Indian city of Chennai, to Vee Ess Trading Pvt., a company in the Srinivasan family's promoter group.

The sale has become part of a wider fight within the family. Srinivasan's wife, Mallika Srinivasan, has questioned whether she was properly told about the real estate business's prospects, and whether the price took account of its land holdings, its pipeline of projects and its future earnings.

What the policy change did

The 2020 policy treated any sale or purchase of property worth 10% or more of the company's net worth as material, without saying whether standalone or consolidated net worth applied. Under India's listing rules, material related-party deals need prior approval from shareholders, and the related parties involved cannot vote.

The 2024 revision tied the test to consolidated net worth and added a cap, making a deal material if it reaches ₹1,000 crore or 10% of consolidated net worth, whichever is lower.

TVS Emerald's net worth at the time of the sale was ₹232.8 crore. That was about 16.96% of TVS Holdings' standalone net worth of ₹1,372.63 crore for the year ended March 2024, but only about 8.89% of its consolidated net worth. The ₹485.85 crore price was also below the new ₹1,000 crore cap. Emerald's revenue of ₹355.66 crore made up 0.88% of the holding company's consolidated revenue.

TVS Holdings described the sale as an arm's-length transaction based on a valuation report. Its announcement did not include the report, name the valuer or set out how the price was worked out. The company's auditors said they reviewed the valuation documents, the agreements and the approvals.

A growing property business

TVS Emerald has expanded since the sale. Its consolidated operating income rose to ₹866 crore ($91 million) in the year ended March 2025, from ₹369 crore a year earlier, and profit after tax increased to ₹23 crore from ₹10 crore, credit rating company Crisil Ltd. said in December 2025. The developer booked property sales of ₹1,010 crore that year. Crisil said its 67-acre land bank has development potential of more than ₹5,300 crore ($557 million).

Mallika Srinivasan and her daughter, Lakshmi Venu, say the family's wealth has never been fairly divided. "No agreement dividing these economic interests has been concluded," they have said. Srinivasan and his son, Sudarshan Venu, who now runs TVS Motor Co. as chairman and managing director, say the businesses were separated on fair terms.

TVS Holdings owns 50.26% of TVS Motor, one of India's largest makers of motorcycles and scooters, with a stock market value of about $20 billion. A trust with Srinivasan as trustee holds a majority of TVS Holdings.

Srinivasan, 73, took charge of Sundaram-Clayton Ltd. in 1979 and built TVS Motor into a major exporter of two-wheelers. He is also a vice chairman of Tata Trusts, the charities that control the Tata Group. Forbes has ranked him among India's 100 richest people.

Figures were converted at ₹95.2 to the dollar.