N Sankar, chairman of Chennai-headquartered business conglomerate Sanmar Group, passed away at the age of 77. Sankar who was at the forefront of the Indian PVC industry for over five decades, helmed the reputed Sanmar Group, a billion-dollar global conglomerate, a diversified multinational with presence in India, the US, Mexico and Egypt.
A role model for entrepreneurs and institution builders, he was characterised by a combination of business acumen and ethical conviction, and was upright, farsighted and innovative, and open to new technologies.
Venu Srinivasan, chairman, TVS Group, said: “Sankar was one of the pioneering industrialists of South India. I have known him over many decades and watched him lead the Sanmar Group with foresight. He was early to adopt modern management practices and focused on building competence in his companies. He pushed international growth and investment to make Sanmar a leading player globally.”
Sankar headed a number of industry organisations, at national and international levels. He was president of Assocham (1991-92), chairman, Indo – US Joint Business Council (1998-99), chairman, Madras Chamber of Commerce and Industry (1986-87), president, Madras Management Association (1981-87), and president, Indo-Danish Business Council, among others.
He served as the honorary Consul-general of Denmark in South India from 1989 to 2017.
A pioneer in PVC manufacturing, he came up with some of the original choices for highly integrated manufacturing processes at various manufacturing facilities of Chemplast, the group’s flagship company for almost 55 years now.
Corporate governance was an article of faith with Sankar and his business group echoed this philosophy in its vision statement, “Combining integrity with excellence”.
Sankar was among the pioneers to separate ownership from the management and he empowered the management with a pool of talented professionals. A third-generation entrepreneur, Sankar carved a niche for himself as an out-of-the-box entrepreneur.
With his technical educational background in chemical engineering from AC Tech College of Technology and a masters degree from Illinois Institute of technology, Chicago, he had also hands-on experience at the plant level.
He was known as a people-centric leader, spending lot of time and money to recruit talented people and train and develop them. Passion for excellence and relentless pursuit of perfection had been the hall marks of his leadership, said a statement by the Sanmar Group.
Sankar joined Chemplast in 1967 as a trainee, when his father KS Narayanan was the promoter and director. He was 26 years when he started his entrepreneurial career by acquiring a major stake in Industrial Chemicals and Monomers, a carbide manufacturing company.
He was well known for several successful joint ventures with world majors like Flowserve, Cabot, Crane, Emerson, Pentair, Tyco, AMP, BF Goodrich, Bayer, and Elf Atochem. At one time, under his chairmanship Sanmar had over 30 joint venture partners.
Sankar had concern for the environment. He was a pioneer in establishing the zero liquid discharge (ZLD) facility at all the group’s manufacturing chemical plants, when the technology was not known in the Indian industry.
Sankar had been a patron of sports such as cricket and tennis. The Sanmar family runs two cricket clubs — the Jolly Rovers, for over 50 years, and the Alwarpet Cricket Club — these clubs have produced outstanding players; a large number of them represented India. Himself a university champion in tennis, he promoted the game by sponsoring tennis talent for over the last 40 years. He was the president of Tamil Nadu Cricket and Tennis Associations and also president of the Madras Cricket Club.
He stepped in at a crucial point in the life of Madras Musings, and placed it on a sound financial footing with support from multiple corporate houses.
Sankar had great concern for public causes and supported well known healthcare institutions including the Cancer Institute, Sankara Nethralaya, Childs Trust Hospital, Voluntary Health Services (VHS) and several others.
He was also involved in the management of a number of educational and charitable organisations including Sri Sankara Schools, Chennai Willingdon Corporate Foundation and Chennai Heritage, and was a member on the board of governors of the Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode.