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EID Parry (India) Limited

Q. What's the broad philosophy that drives the board in the context of governance?

A. We strongly believe that the board should engage in value creation and they should not allow anything which will destroy value for shareholders. Strong governance helps towards sustainability of performance in an organization.

Q. How do you ensure participation from all stakeholders, including employees?

A.Engagement is primarily driven by inspirational leadership at different levels and communication. We have a lot of communication on the web - I go live continually for interaction on the web (through the company intranet). I also travel to locations on Founder's Day and talk to employees - we call it the energy hour'.

Q. How do you manage to preserve the culture and philosophy of your group over generations? How do you measure the efficacy of your efforts to do so?

A. We have values and beliefs represented by five lights – quality, integrity, passion, responsibility and respect. We ensure that these get reflected in our interactions with customers, employees, and shareholders. As well in the products we make and services we offer. While most companies track EBIDTA (Earnings Before Interest, Depreciation, Tax and Amortization), we lay a lot of emphasis on how easy it is to do business with the Murugappa group; we call it 'easy to do business with us (ETDBW).

Q. What is the key learning you have picked at the group that could serve as learning for other companies and entrepreneurs?

A. It is our ability to share risks with professionals which keeps the adrenaline pumping. I can't say that - You take the risk, if it goes right, we gain and if doesn't, then you (the professional) have made a mistake.

A. Vellayan

Chairman, EID Parry (India) Limited and Executive Chairman, Murugappa Group

EID Parry has a well-governed ethical board with a strong legacy of processes and functions with meritocracy at its core.

This Chennai-based group relies on a fairly compact corporate board and is an excellent example of how a family-managed group has transformed itself into a corporate entity run by professionals. The family governance model adopted by the promoter family has been acknowledged as one of the strongest in the country.

They follow a rigorous process for ensuring participation and value-add by each member. The board members are required to spend adequate time with the company on its business matters and formally limit the number of directorships they can hold outside of the EID Parry board.

A strong risk assessment discipline is followed by the board while delivering high shareholder value.