Board of Directors & Committees

Mr. Ashwin C Muthiah is the Founder Chairman of AM Group of Companies, Singapore which has interests across the globe in fertilizers, petrochemicals, distribution, infrastructure, healthcare and green energy. He is a commerce graduate from Loyola College, Chennai. After completing his post-graduation in management studies in the US, he joined the Group in India.

Mr. Ashwin, a third-generation business leader, has led the group since 2001; he initiated the strategic re-orientation of various business entities to transform them into future-ready and sustainable entities in the new global economic environment. Today, the US$ 2 billion Group’s ventures span diverse, traditional and new-age businesses across India, South East Asia and the UK.

Mr. Ashwin is the Consul General Ad Honorem for the Republic of Philippines in India and has served as a member of the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB).

His philanthropic interests are focused on the areas of provision of safe drinking water and solving the sanitation issues of the needy through CSR efforts of AM Foundation. He is also a trustee of the Saigon Chettiars’ Temple Trust in Singapore that promotes ancient history, culture and traditions.

Besides steering the Group as Chairman of the parent company, Mr. Ashwin also heads the Boards of the various group companies such as Southern Petrochemical Industries Corporation (SPIC), Manali Petrochemicals Limited (MPL), Sicagen India Limited and Wilson International, Singapore.

Lt. Col. (Retd.) Chatapuram Swaminathan Shankar, is a Chemical Engineer and has served Indian Oil Corporation Limited for 37 years. He retired as its Executive Director, and during his tenure had headed various verticals within the organisation, viz., Aviation, LPG, Director Secretariat, Petrochemicals, Corporate Training & Development, Planning and Co-ordination, Law and Quality control.

Concurrently, Lt. Col. Shankar was commissioned in the Indian Territorial Army as an Officer in 1983 and had been an active soldier for over 30 years. He had headed Battalion in relief and rescue operations during the Gujarat earthquake, Odisha super cyclone, Andaman’s tsunami and various other critical operations of national importance.

A passionate trainer and motivational speaker Lt. Col. Shankar has presented technical papers at various National and International forums.

Lt. Col. Shankar is an Independent Director of the Company since April 2019.

Mr. Govindarajan Dattatreyan Sharma, a Post Graduate in Personnel Management & Industrial Relations from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, is a Senior HR Professional with over 40 years of experience across industry verticals. He has held senior positions and led the HR function in various corporates such as BGR Energy Systems, Larsen & Toubro, Vedanta (Sterlite) Group, SRA Systems, E.I.D. Parry and SPIC. At present he is Principal Consultant, Beeline HR Advisory, his own HR & Management Consulting Firm, advising major organizations, Institutions and individuals on managing growth and helping them realize their potential. Mr. Sharma is a well-respected HR veteran, with rich experience in the complete spectrum of the human resources functions across varied business segments. He has had exposure to multi-national mergers and acquisitions, cross-cultural change management, large scale integration facilitation skills and the like. He has designed and successfully implemented management and leadership development initiatives across the enterprise and is well-versed in strategically aligning HR with Business. Mr. Sharma also plays an active role in Education/Academia and Training, and is associated as Advisor, Adjunct Faculty, Visiting Faculty, and Mentor with prestigious B-Schools and leading Business houses. He is a much sought-after trainer, speaker, rapporteur, facilitator and moderator in professional, social and cultural circles. Mr. Sharma has won many Awards and Distinctions. He was the ‘Best Outgoing Student’ of the 1979 batch of M.A (PM & IR) at TISS and a Gold Medalist. His other awards include Rotary Foundation Group Study Exchange Fellowship in 1985; Fellowship of AOTS in 1996; Leadership Excellence Award from ITM University in 2006; Lifetime Achievement Awards by HR Sangam in 2016 and HR Caucus in 2018.

Mr. Sharma is an Independent Director on the Board of TPL since April 2019 and is a Chairman of Nomination & Remuneration Committee and member of Audit, CSR, SRC Committee. He is also on the Board of other listed companies.

Mr. Debendranath Sarangi is a retired IAS (1977) Officer from Tamilnadu cadre. While in service he held senior level responsibilities like Additional Chief Secretary/ Principal Secretary of eight Departments including the Chairman of Tamilnadu Industrial Development Corporation Ltd and TITAN. He eventually retired as the Chief Secretary in the year 2012. He holds M.A. in Political Science from Delhi University and M.A. in Economics from University of Swansea, UK.

Presently, he is an Independent Director on the Boards of Southern Petrochemical Industries Corporation Limited, Voltas Ltd, Universal Comfort Products Limited, Universal MEP Projects & Engineering Services Limited (wholly owned subsidiary of Voltas) and Director of Etica Developers Private Limited.

Ms. Latha Ramanathan is a Chartered Accountant with about 34 years of post-qualification experience. Her distinguished career includes nearly two decades with the Big 4 Consulting firms, KPMG, PwC, and Deloitte, where she held Partner (Executive/Senior Director) positions. As a part of these firms’ Consulting business vertical, Latha was heading operations in Urban Infrastructure and Public Finance. She has also served on many internal committees/thematic groups @ India and Global level, particularly focused on women. At present, she is the CEO of Economix Consulting Group (ECG), a niche consulting and analytics firm that she founded in 2015. She also serves on the Boards of Sterling Holiday Resorts Limited and Dr. Agarwal’s Eye Hospital Limited as Independent Director.

Mrs. Rita Chandrasekar (DIN: 03013549) is a Partner in the leading Advocate firm M/s. Aiyar and Dolia, since 1984. The firm was established by her father late B.R.Dolia, in the year 1957. Her firm has been retained by several Public Sector Banks and Corporates.

They are also Advisers to many multinational Companies, Resident & NRI Clients regarding investment of funds, establishment of industries, purchase of immovable properties etc., She is the Standing Counsel for Chennai Metro Rail Limited.

Mr. Sandeep Nanduri, IAS, belongs to the 2009 batch IAS Officer and has performed various roles in his 13 years of Public Service. Presently, he is the Managing Director of Tamilnadu Industrial Development Corporation Limited. Earlier, Mr. Sandeep Nanduri, IAS, served as Managing Director of Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation Limited, District Collector and District Magistrate at Tuticorin, Thiruvannamalai and Tirunelveli, Executive Director at Chennai Metro Water Supply and Sewage Board and Additional Collector, PD-DRDA, at Government of Tamil Nadu.

Mr. S Senthil Kumar is a Mechanical Engineer and has around 34 years of experience in various fields including Academic, Transport, Industrial promotion, Project Management etc. At present, he is serving as Chief General Manager (Projects) in Tamilnadu Industrial Development Corporation Limited handling project implementation works

A graduate in Chemical Engineering from Anna University and an EMBA from IIBM. Has more than 3 decades of experience in the Petrochemical Industry. He started his career as a trainee in TPL and became the AVP (Operations) before becoming a Whole-Time Director in 2016. He has handled many areas in TPL and has commendable knowledge about the operations and other functions of all the units of the Company. In addition to steering project management, operations management and process engineering, he leads teams that conduct internal quality and safety audits. He manages plant expansions, increases capacity utilisation, optimises efficiency and boosts organisational performance.

A graduate in Commerce and a Fellow member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI). Has more than 30 years of experience major portion of which have been in Oil & Gas, Power, Engineering and Manufacturing sectors. Mr.Vijayagopal has held various leadership positions in multinational companies & premier Indian Companies including Board level assignments. He has widely traveled and has worked with various nationalities like British, Canadians, Americans, etc., In addition to the general corporate experience, he has commercial acumen combined with people skills.