Mallika Srinivasan can be described in many ways: India’s `tractor queen’ making an indelible impression in a heavily male-dominated industry; a thought leader; a strategist as well as a well-known philanthropist with an abiding interest in ensuring development of agriculture, education, and healthcare in India.
As chairman and managing director of Tractors and Farm Equipment Limited (TAFE), a company that her grandfather founded and had her father as its growth architect, Srinivasan has gone global with a vengeance. Under her leadership, the Rs 10,000 crore company has become the third largest tractor manufacturer in the world and the second largest in India by volumes, with an annual sales of over 180,000 tractors and presence in over 100 countries.
No wonder, she was the unanimous choice for the Lifetime Achievement Award by the illustrious jury for the Express Awards for Women Entrepreneurs (ExpressAWE), 2025. The jury, led by Deepak Parekh, former chairman of HDFC, also had Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, founder and chairperson of Biocon, Meher Pudumjee, chairperson, Thermax, Zia Mody, co-founder and managing partner, AZB & Partners and Sachin Bansal, chairman, Navi Group.
Her academic credentials are impeccable. Srinivasan was a university gold-medallist in Econometrics from the University of Madras, graduated as a member of the Dean’s Honor List, and the Alpha Beta Gamma Society, from the Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania, US. She has been ranked among its top 125 most successful alumni.
There is more to Srinivasan than a firm grasp on the needs and challenges in crucial sectors of the economy. Those who have known her talk about her ability to balance her commercial acumen with insights from a professional team and all of it with a heart in the right place from a farmer’s perspective.
As a philanthropist, she has pursued purpose and in business remained committed to the target audience — the small & marginal farmers and to technology. From promoting precision-farming to supporting paediatric cancer treatment, preserving folk art to ensuring free eye care services for the needy, Srinivasan has always made a difference where it matters.
She has been instrumental in supporting organisations such as the Sankara Nethralaya and the Cancer Hospital in Chennai, besides supporting a number of educational and healthcare facilities in the Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu. In addition, she has been a generous patron of arts through her involvement in the promotion and support of one of India’s leading musical traditions of Carnatic music through The Indira Sivasailam Foundation.
A strong believer in the transformative power of technology and in the Indian engineering abilities, she is today leading efforts at exploring use of alternate fuels like hydrogen and CNG and has already launched electric tractors. She is also the first private sector specialist to be appointed the head of the Public Enterprises Selection Board.
Parekh sees in Srinivasan “a professional entrepreneur who has had a unique journey as it spans both agriculture and industrial manufacturing, both critical sectors for the Indian economy” and those that come with their own set of challenges. “But what stands out is Mallika Srinivasan’s strategic vision, a strong leadership and a deep commitment to small and marginal farmers.”
Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw describes Srinivasan as “a strong business leader who is very determined and driven with a good understanding of her business.” She also sees in her journey a lot of insightful advice for policy-making that too in the manufacturing arena.