It is not often that one finds a company which is nearing its centenary year still preserving the ideals of its founders for its sustained growth. MOTORINDIA Managing Editor & Publisher, R. Natarajan recently had a chance meeting with Mr. M. Ramani of Shri Muthuvel Service, Tirunelveli, for an informal discussion on the company’s successful journey over the years as a fleet operator.
Humble and unassuming by nature, Mr. Ramani has been running his family business, which his grandfather started, in a most traditional but efficient way for three decades.
It was in 1919 that Lion Automobiles was started in Tirunelveli by Shanmugam Pillai and developed by Somasundaram Pillai, great grandfather and grandfather respectively of Mr. Ramani, and continued by the next generations. Mr. Ramani is ably supported by his uncle Mr. Vadivelmurugan and cousin brothers, Mr. Lakshmanan and Mr. Somasundaram.
Mr. Ramani disclosed that Lion Automobiles is a pioneering transport company in the southern districts of Tamil Nadu. Probably the oldest of its kind in the State, it initially covered around 15,000 km and commuting 40,000 passengers per day in four districts with a fleet of 53 buses. Following the nationalisation policy of the government in 1971, which allowed an operator or a company not to hold more than five permits, the company was divided among the families collectively running the business. “Today, after 95 years we are still continuing the business covering more than 20 areas in the three southern districts. Our family has now diversified into real estates, architecture, agriculture and IT consultancy. We are completing 100 years in the next five years”.
The company’s bus fleet carries the logo of a ‘Lion’ to strongly convey not only that it is the king among transport companies, but also to reflect the reliability of its services by offering timely transport of postal mails, medicines and other critical items from and to remote villages.
Lion Automobiles has now been very closely associated with TVS, Sundaram Finance, Sundaram Industries and the Amalgamations Group which have been providing both technical and financial assistance to the company for over 50 years. “It was TVS and Sundaram Industries who have been providing us with lots of information in developing our system. We are very grateful to them for the extreme support given to us”, he added.
He further disclosed that having wide experience with Chevrolet and Fargo brand of buses, operating in areas like coal, petrol and diesel, now the company has been using only Ashok Leyland buses in their fleet. Both TVS and Ashok Leyland have mostly performed test trials of the company buses. This goes to prove the reliability and trustworthiness of the vehicles.
14 retreads on a Modi tyre and 10 retreads on an OE Ceat Tyre at Sundaram Industries, Tirunelveli and many high mileage and performance awards in Hino engines are some of the achievements of the company. Adoption of latest technologies at the appropriate times, recently, GPS, alloy wheels and tubeless radial tyres are the developments at the growing company.
Talking about his future business plans, Mr. Ramani observed: “As we are nearing the centenary year we wish to have ‘the Lion’ in an elevated platform with more diversified activities. We are also planning to get into online trading, logistics and tourism as joint ventures.”
With a Production Engineering degree from the College of Engineering, Guindy, Mr. Ramani often involves himself in the activities of the Bus Owners Association, the Chamber of Industry and Commerce, YMCA, and various other associations.
He feels proud to say that he and his family are all set to continue the dream and take Shri Muthuvel Service to further heights upholding the name, tradition and honour of Lion Automobiles.
Generations of Success “The first generation creates the business, the second generation inherits it and the third generation destroys it”. This is an unpleasant trend among family businesses. True, only one-third of the family businesses survives the transition from the first generation of ownership to the second, and the future always remains a major challenge. Breaking this jinx as it were is the reputed family of Mr. B.R. Balachandra Sekar, an auto spares specialist of Tirunelveli, which represents the fourth generation running the family business uninterruptedly for years. MOTORINDIA Editor R. Natarajan recently had a chance meeting with Mr. Balachandra Sekar at Tirunelveli and could learn the secret of his success after a long discussion on his family businesses. Simple and outspoken by nature, Mr. Balachandra Sekar, who is in his late 70s, is the eldest among the four sons of the late B.R. Radhakrishnan. He always keeps himself busy with the day-to-day activities related to the spares business. He disclosed that his father started the vehicle spareparts business when there was hardly anybody doing it in those days. He also started American Automobiles in 1939 along with his friend R.S. Chockalingam to sell spareparts for Chevrolet and Ford trucks. The spares were then purchased from the then Bombay and Madras. In 1966, he started Krishna Automobiles, a retail outlet exclusively for truck parts. Further expansion took place with the opening of Sri Lakshmi Automobiles in 1969 for truck engine parts. Mr. Sekar further said that, inspired by his father, he entered the business in 1952 to assist him. Krishna Auto Agencies was started in 1984 to deal with Yamaha motorcycles and Honda generators, and the year 1990 saw the establishment of American Power Systems, an authorized outlet for LISPART auto parts. Sri Radhakrishna Automobiles, an exclusive outlet for LCV parts, came into being in 1992 and, the father and son together took up franchisees for ELF lubricants through SRK Enterprises and for Amaron Batteries. Krishna TVS was opened in 2011 to deal exclusively with TVS two-wheelers. Mr. Sekar is not alone in his journey. He is ably supported in running the businesses by his family members, partners and the dedicated staff who have been working so closely with him for the past 25 years. Mr. Sekar’s brothers Mr. B.R. Rajasekar and Mr. B.R. Vivekanandam, along with Mr. B. Balakrishnan and Mr. V. Srinivasan of the third generation, have proved the backbone of the family business, taking individual care of the different business entities. In order to satisfy their dealers and customers, the brothers have also opened several other branches in areas like Kovilpatti, Nagarkoil and Tenkasi. The family recently forayed into jewellery business too. A dynamic personality, Mr. Balachandra Sekar has been elected President of the Tirunelveli Automobile Dealers Association for the past eight years in a row. His is a typical example to prove that no business would prosper without diversification. |