A. Sivasailam

Anantharamakrishnan Sivasailam (24 August 1934 – 12 January 2011) was an Indian industrialist, educationist, philanthropist and a former chairman and managing director of Amalgamations Group of Industries, a 70 billion conglomerate hosting a workforce of over 12,000 (as of 2011). He headed the business family which was listed by Forbes as the 37th richest in India in 2015, with a net worth of 2.5 billion. He was the president of the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (1970, 1971) and ASSOCHAM and held the office of the Sheriff of Madras during 1969–1970. The Government of India awarded him the fourth highest civilian honour of the Padma Shri, in 2007, for his contributions to Indian industry.

Biography Sivasailam was born on 24 August 1934, at Alwarkurichi in Tirunelveli district, which is now the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu, to S. Anantharamakrishnan, the founder of Amalgamations Group, as the elder of his two sons. In 1957, he joined his father in their family business as a comptroller and treasurer and took over Tractors and Farm Equipment Limited (TAFE), an industrial venture started by the group in 1960, as its general manager, in 1961. He continued heading TAFE for 7 years and subsequent to his father's death in 1964, he took over the leadership of the group's business and became the chairman of the group officially in 1968, with his brother, A. Krishnamurthy, as its vice chairman. He held the position till his death in 2011 and the group grew during this period from a 350 million business to 70 billion conglomerate, composed of 48 subsidiaries and 12,000 strong workforce. His wife, Indira Sivasailam, had preceded him in death; the couple were survived by both their daughters. The elder daughter, Mallika Srinivasan, a Wharton School of Business alumnus, is the chairman and chief executive officer of Tractors and Farm Equipment Limited. She is married to Venu Srinivasan, chairman of the TVS Group. The younger daughter is Jayashree Venkatraman, a director of TAFE and married to Murali Venkatraman, the managing director of WS Industries, a Chennai-based industrial group.