On Thursday, Rohan Murty, doctoral student at Harvard University and the only son of NR Narayana Murthy, the founder and chairman of Infosys Technologies, the country’s second largest software services firm, was engaged to be married to Lakshmi Venu, the only daughter of TVS Motor company’s CMD, Venu Srinivasan.
“They were introduced to each other by a common friend and they must have spent time time getting to know each other,” said a delighted Mr Murthy, Rohan’s father who says the families have known of the couple’s interest for the past several months. “Lakshmi has visited our home and we are very happy with this engagement,” he added.
Although this is a very private moment for the young couple and their families, the wedding holds a great deal of corporate significance. It will see the coming together of three large corporate entities—Venu Srinivasan spearheads TVS-M, SCL and other firms with a topline of over $1 billion, while his wife Mallika Srinivasan is the vice-chairman of Tractors and Farm Equipment (TAFE).
The Chennai-based tractor major crossed a major performance milestone last year of a consolidated turnover of over $1 billion with revenues touching Rs 4,850 crore and a volume of over 100,000 tractors. TAFE, the flagship of Amalgamations (Simpson) group, is now among the three largest tractor manufacturers in the world.
The Murthy family, which includes the parents NR Narayana Murthy, mother Sudha Murty, daughter Akshata Murty and Rohan Murty together control about 4.5% of the shares of Infosys Technologies, which has a market capitalisation of Rs 164,368 crore. Rohan with his 1.39% holding owns a little over 79 lakh shares in the company that his father co-founded.
This alliance between the “brick and click” families has come as a pleasant surprise to many. “I had a whiff of this but had no real idea until i got a call from Rohan early yesterday (on Friday) telling me about this engagement. It is a very very special moment as I have spent a lot of time with Rohan when he was a young child,” said Rohini Nilekani, wife of Nandan Nilekani, chairman, Unique Identification Authority and co-founder Infosys.
“He is not only brilliant like his parents he is a very very good guy, I haven’t met Lakshmi, but she is a Yalie (alumnus of Yale University) like my children, so this is very special,” she added.
Sources within the TVS family told ET: “When the family was looking for a match for Lakshmi, Rohan’s name was suggested. Both sides met and discussed for a couple of months before they mutually agreed to finalise the wedding on Thursday.”
However, the Murthy family was quick to debunk the notion of this being a purely arranged match. “Oh No! we absolutely had no part to play, perhaps if we had, Rohan would have said ‘No’!. He is very much a young man who knows his own mind,” said a very happy Mr Murthy.
Twenty-seven year-old Lakshmi, a Yale University alumnus, also holds a doctorate in engineering management from University of Warwick. She has maintained a keen interest in the family business, while still a student she spent time as a management trainee in group company Sundaram Auto Components.
And in March this year, she joined the board of Sundaram Clayton as an additional director and director strategy for a period of five years. Like her mother, Mallika Srinivasan, Lakshmi is expected to continue in her corporate role after the wedding.
“It is purely their decision. I am very happy with the wedding. Rohan is brilliant, charming and young,” said Mrs Srinivasan, the eldest daughter of A Sivasailam, chairman of the Amalgamations group.
Venu Srinivasan, who took his daughter to Andavan Ashram and temples in Chennai on Saturday told ET, “We are all very happy to have the alliance with the NRN family. Rohan is a wonderful young man.”
The couple is yet to decide on a date for the wedding. “It is upto them,” say both sets of parents who confirmed that the engagement took place on August 5. “Rohan will complete his doctoral studies and walk in the Convocation in May 2011,” said Mr Murthy.
On his 2010 home page on the Harvard University website, the doctoral student describes himself as Rohan “Lyric” Narayana Murty saying, “I indulge in systems research for the most part and perhaps one day, when I grow up, I shall build reliable systems.”
He is a total geek who has no airs and will happily join in on a trip to eat hot dosas, says an MNC professional who has interacted with Rohan in the past. A friend who posted congratulatory messages on his Facebook account is still awaiting a response and had no idea of the significance of one photograph in his Friends List, a charming frame of Lakshmi Venu with her pet Boxer.
The evidently delighted families have already begun to bond well together. On Saturday evening, Mallika Srinivasan and Sudha Murty were together at the IDEA Filmfare Award function in Chennai.
“We are very happy with this alliance. There is no business and no economy when it comes to love. It’s purely a love marriage. We have not decided on the date and venue of marriage let the kids decide,” said Mrs Murty, who arrived at the awards function with Mallika Srinivasan and was seen chatting with her.
“I love the movies, especially Hindi movies,” she told , adding that no decisions have been taken on how the wedding will be solemnised—whether according to Tamil Brahmin rituals or as a Kannadiga Brahmin wedding.
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