Vellayan Subbiah, Executive Vice Chairman of Tube Investments of India (TII) and Chairman of Cholamandalam Investment and Finance Co Ltd., has been honoured with the prestigious EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year 2024 award. Subbiah, the fourth Indian recipient of this accolade, joins previous winners NR Narayana Murthy, Uday Kotak, and Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw.
With this achievement, India has become the only country among EY regions to secure the global entrepreneurship award four times.
Subbiah was previously awarded the EY Entrepreneur of the Year for India in 2023. Holding a Bachelor of Technology in Civil Engineering from IIT Madras and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Michigan, USA, Subbiah’s career began as an engineer before transitioning to strategic consultancy. He served as Managing Director of Cholamandalam Investment and Finance from August 2010 to August 2017, during which he successfully navigated the company through a challenging partnership fallout. He was appointed Chairman of the Murugappa group firm in November 2020, and under his leadership, the company’s market capitalisation increased 60-fold.
In 2018, Subbiah became Managing Director at Tube Investments of India (TII), a 70-year-old manufacturing company. Since then, TII’s share price has grown 13 times. Notably, TII’s subsidiary, CG Power, has recently commenced building India’s first outsourced semiconductor and test facility.
“I am deeply honoured and grateful to be recognised as the EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year,” Vellayan Subbiah said upon receiving the award in Monaco. “As part of a fourth-generation family business, the spirit of entrepreneurship runs deep within me. I am inspired by those who came before me and those who will follow. I firmly believe that by approaching challenges as opportunities and committing ourselves to a path of self-improvement, there is no limit to what we can achieve.”
Rajiv Memani, Chairman and CEO of EY India, praised Subbiah, stating, “Vellayan has grown and transformed his businesses to a remarkable scale through a customer-centric approach, innovation, and long-term sustainability at the core.”
Carmine Di Sibio, EY Global Chairman and CEO, added that Subbiah’s story goes “far beyond numbers.” “His humble and personable approach to leadership and his philosophy of enabling others to ‘enter a better life’ are the embodiment of what it means to be EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year,” Sibio said.
Subbiah was selected from nearly 5,000 program participants, including 51 winners from 47 countries and jurisdictions. The award criteria focused on entrepreneurial spirit, purpose, growth, and impact.
