Vellayan Subbiah, Executive Vice-Chairman of Tube Investments of India (TII) and Chairman of Cholamandalam Investment and Finance Co Ltd., has been named the EY World Entrepreneur of the Year 2024. Subbiah is the fourth Indian to receive this coveted award. Previously, NR Narayana Murthy, Uday Kotak, and Kiran Majumdar Shaw were honoured with this title. With this win, India becomes the only country among EY regions to achieve this recognition four times.
Subbiah was awarded the EY Entrepreneur of the Year for India in 2023. He holds a Bachelor of Technology in Civil Engineering from IIT Madras and a Master’s in Business Administration from the University of Michigan, USA. He began his career as an engineer and then moved into strategic consulting.
From 2010 to 2017, Subbiah served as the Managing Director of Cholamandalam Investment and Finance. During his tenure, he successfully navigated the company through the fallout of a troubled partnership. In November 2020, he was appointed Chairman of the Murugappa group firm. Under his leadership, the company’s market capitalisation grew by 60 times.
In 2018, Subbiah became the MD of Tube Investments of India (TII), a 70-year-old manufacturing company. Since taking over, he has helped TII’s share price grow 13 times. Notably, TII’s subsidiary, CG Power, has recently started building India’s first outsourced semiconductor and test facility.
On receiving the award in Monaco, Subbiah said, “I am deeply honoured and grateful to be recognised as the EY World Entrepreneur of the Year. 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 at EY India, praised Subbiah’s achievements. “Vellayan has grown and transformed his businesses to a remarkable scale through a customer-centric approach, innovation, and long-term sustainability at the core,” he said. Carmine Di Sibio, EY Global Chairman and CEO, added that Subbiah’s story goes “far beyond numbers”. He noted, “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.”
Subbiah was selected from nearly 5,000 program participants, including 51 winners across 47 countries and jurisdictions. This year’s award was based on four criteria: entrepreneurial spirit, purpose, growth, and impact.
