Chennai''s low profile but well-knit Murugappa group is restructuring. The group, whose companies include EID Parry, Tube Investments India, Parry Agro, Carborundum Universal, and Cholamandalam Finance is entrusting the management of frontline companies to non-family professionals.

Family members are not going into hibernation. They will be part of a supervisory board that will link the family with the professional chief executive officers and statutory boards of the group companies. Each senior family member will be designated vice-chairman of one or more company and will have defined functional responsibilities. The patriarch of the family, M.V. Subbiah, will be chairman of EID Parry, Tube Investments India, and Parry’s Confectionery.

Explaining the proposals, Mr Subbiah says the supervisory board will have three external professionals as non-wholetime directors. They will be men of eminence with proven professional records and leadership qualities. Two such people have already been identified – one a professor of Indian origin abroad and the other the chief executive officer of a multinational company.

The supervisory board will have nine members. Five of them are senior family members. Mr Subbiah will be chairman of the board and M.A. Alagappan vice-chairman. The other family members are A. Vellayan, M.M. Murugappan and M.M. Venkatachalam. Partho S. Datta, now president, group finance, will be a director. The board will take off from the new year and meet once a quarter.

Mr Alagappan will steer the group’s overall strategy, while providing mentorship services to group companies Tube Investments and TI Diamond Chain, and the marketing services businesses. Mr Vellayan will be addressing the group’s marketing thrusts, brand building, skills and systems while acting as mentor for EID Parry and Coromandel Fertilisers. Mr Murugappan will be in charge of technology, including information technology and research functions and will be in charge for Carborundum Universal and the plantations business. Mr Venkatachalam will be in charge of the group’s human resources functions and will be the mentor for the group’s financial services (Cholamandalam Finance) besides Parry Confectionery. Mr Datta will focus on finance and financial restructuring.

According to Mr Subbiah, the group is in search of senior professional managers to be placed at strategic positions. It will prefer to appoint chief executive officers from among existing managers of group companies as they are familiar with the group culture. The mentor directors will be vice-chairmen and will provide inputs and suggestions to the professional teams.