The quickest way to irritate the otherwise unflappable Mallika Srinivasan is to ask her a stereotypical question: How do you manage to thrive in a very male and very old economy business like tractors? She'll sigh, throw up her hands and go on to explain why it's a silly question to ask. And that is soooo Srinivasan. Diminutive and always armed with a charming smile, the mother of two is as unpretentious as can be. She loves her gym sessions, her annual travels on the wild side (her idea of a great holiday is to go camping on an iceberg in deepest Alaska), and the business she is in.

TAFE was a Rs 80 crore company when Srinivasan, 46, formally joined her father's Amalgamations Group in 1986 as General Manager of the tractors and farm equipment division. She had earlier done a brief stint there, trying to figure out whether this was what she wanted to do. Obviously, the instinct for business ran strong in her blood, and she decided to arm herself with an MBA from Wharton before joining full-time. "I found that I was drawn to the business; I had grown up in the environment," says she. Being born into one of India's first families in business, it's easy to see why Srinivasan should have found it so easy to don the role of enterprise leader.

Still, to run a business in a conservative, male-dominated family is not the easiest of jobs. Thankfully for Srinivasan, her father was firmly on her side, and she had the freedom to do just what she wanted. In fact, he handed the baton over to her, asking her to do what she could to improve business, although assuring her that the entire family would be there to guide her. "Running a tractor business is no different from running any other business," she points out, "the essentials are the same."

For Srinivasan, the challenge was the whole idea of taking up the business and pushing it up the growth ladder. "I am fascinated by it all-the holistic aspect of running an enterprise, the whole gamut of entrepreneurship, the challenge of building a solid institution." She joined her father to bring in the latest technology into TAFE, gearing it up to meet global standards, and successfully took the company through the serious market downturn of the late 80s. TAFE's strategy was to go ahead and invest heavily in design and product development, and to keep launching new tractor models so that the TAFE brand continued to stay top of mind for the farmer. The tactics worked. "Our aim is to make TAFE the farmer's first choice," says the lady.

Stepping On It

This financial year has been a significant one for TAFE. When 2005-06 comes to a close, the company's turnover would have doubled from the previous year to touch about Rs 2,500 crore. It would have sold over 65,000 tractors (34,000 last year) and consolidated its market share at about 24 per cent, locking into a strong position as No.2 in the tractor market. And, of course, this is the year that TAFE closed its dramatic acquisition of Eicher Motors' tractor, engine and gear businesses, which gives the company a foothold in the lower horsepower tractor category, plus a manufacturing base and market in north India, as well as an entry into the us market, one of Eicher's strongholds. This adds to TAFE's already strong presence across the South Asian markets. "Our next target is to grow our presence in the international market," says Srinivasan, an avid collector of antiques and paintings.

The acquisition has also given TAFE a nation-wide footprint. "From a south-based company, we are now present across India, in Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh as well as Tamil Nadu and Karnataka," points out Srinivasan. But for her, the acquisition has not been just about numbers. "It has created tremendous synergies in terms of people, cultures and products; a whole bunch of complementary competencies have come in... there is so much excitement." As she explains, it's obvious that TAFE is going through an exhilarating phase in its growth. A young new generation has come into the company, injecting enthusiasm, and complementing the experience of the senior managers. "There is so much energy in the system... you should see our meetings... everybody is jumping up, wanting to know what's the next new thing they can do. This excitement is what this year has chiefly been about," she says.

As Srinivasan now leads her company through the phase of inorganic growth, the importance given to organic growth via R&D and product innovation has not diminished. Tractors were traditionally products with long lifetimes. Not any longer. In a bid to capture market share, tractors and farm machinery have to be treated as consumer goods, with continuous changes in features and looks. "Rural India is a demanding market," says Srinivasan, "and competition is intense."

The challenge is to keep adding new features and technology to the tractors and yet making them available at a low price point. The upside is that the market is huge. And the industry is about to witness the wholesale entry of global tractor makers into India, as they seek a cheap manufacturing hub. This will create a new set of problems, chiefly that of keeping up with new technology. TAFE has a strong in-house tech team but also draws heavily from its collaborator agco Corporation of the US. Apart from tractors, TAFE has other businesses such as engineering plastics, hydraulic pumps, panel instruments, gears, automotive batteries and farm implements.

"We Indians are good at finding our own models and creating successes"

Srinivasan's chief strength is her passion for learning. "It's vital to keep a learning attitude throughout your life," she says. "And it's important to do something you are passionate about." As a youngster fresh out of business college, Srinivasan joined a difficult, tech-oriented business, which catered to a market that has traditionally posed one of the biggest challenges to companies-rural India. But Srinivasan simply went to the farmers directly to find out what they wanted, pioneered customer service centres for TAFE's tractors, and the results are evident.

Power Couple

One hotshot business tycoon married to another-the lady's husband is Venu Srinivasan who heads TVS Motors and Sundaram-Clayton. So, what happens when the tycoons meet? Is there a clash of egos? Do they end up talking shop at the dinner table? A smiling Srinivasan refuses to comment, saying she would rather not answer personal questions. But in a family that houses three generations of auto entrepreneurs, conversation about the auto industry is bound to dominate. "Automobiles and entrepreneurship are a passion in our family; we love talking about it." According to Srinivasan, whose 23-year-old daughter Lakshmi recently joined TVS Motor as a management trainee, the fact that both spouses are strong entrepreneurs is a source of huge strength. "There is so much to learn as we talk and share ideas, so many different viewpoints." What surprises her though is the automatic assumption that women have to struggle to straddle two lives-that of home and business. "It comes naturally to women, this balancing act. We do it naturally... all of us."

As a woman heading a huge organisation, one question that's perpetually thrown at her is what she herself is doing to promote the employment of women in her organisation. This is an area where Srinivasan refuses to bow to stereotypes. She refuses to accept reservations or other artificial, politically correct operational modes grafted on to her company policies. "We have our own unwritten policies that encourage diversity." According to her, these are gentler and more successful than forced external interventions. She points out that Indians have their own cultural baggage, both good and bad, and that she would rather work within this framework than apply typical western models of organisational structuring to her company. "We Indians are good at finding our own models and creating successes."

Srinivasan has certainly created her own success-in both life and work.