The $3 billion Murugappa Group, Chennai-based diversified industrial house, has announced that A Vellayan

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(56), at present vice-chairman and director-strategy of the Murugappa Corporate Board, will take over as chairman of the group as M A Alagappan, executive chairman, will be relinquishing his office by the end of October.

A Vellayan brings with him about 28 years of industrial experience. He holds a diploma in industrial administration from the University of Aston, UK and a master’s degree in business studies from the Warwick Business School, UK. He is the chairman of EID Parry (India), and Coromandel Fertilisers (CFL).

Vellayan will be taking charge as the chairman of the group at a time when several of its group companies are expanding globally and diversifying into new areas. While CFL’s businesses over the years have extended globally, Carborundum Universal has emerged as a significant player in the global market with 50 per cent of the revenues coming from outside India. The group’s other flagship company EID Parry, a dominant player in sugar, is looking to expand in bio-pesticides and nutraceuticals segments.

M M Murugappan, director on the board, will succeed A Vellayan as the vice-chairman. N Srinivasan, director-finance and Sridhar Ganesh, director-human resources will continue to head their respective functions on the corporate board. Deepak Satwalekar, Venkatraman Thyagarajan and Sridar Iyengar will continue as independent directors of the board.

M M Murugappan has significant experience in spearheading the engineering and technology-based businesses of the group. He is the chairman of Tube Investments of India, Carborundum Universal, Wen-dt India and Murugappa Morgan Thermal Ceramics.