The company’s 37-year-old chairman Sudarshan Venu is accelerating market expansion with an EV push and a range of luxury wheels under British heritage brand Norton.
On a May morning, TVS Motor Company’s factory on a 120-hectare campus located in the industrial enclave of Hosur in south India is bustling with activity. Workers attach handlebars to two-wheelers moving along a conveyor belt. Driverless vehicles transport materials across the gleaming factory floor. And in one section, 1,200 cc engines are being assembled for the company’s new superpremium motorbike, the Norton Manx R, one of four new models from the historic British brand now owned by TVS Motor and set to go on sale later this year.
The scene reflects the ambitions of Sudarshan Venu, 37, chairman and managing director of the $18 billion (market cap) company with consolidated revenue of $6 billion for the year ended Mar. 31, 2026, and the fourth generation scion of the storied TVS group clan. In keeping with the custom in South India, he draws his surname from the first name of his father, Venu Srinivasan, 73, an industry stalwart who built TVS Motor over half a century into a dominant producer of affordable two-wheelers in India as well as in emerging markets across Asia, Latin America and Africa. The patriarch owns roughly 36% of the company and is on the Forbes’ World’s Billionaires list of 2026 with a fortune of $6.2 billion.
Now Sudarshan is injecting fresh energy into TVS Motor as he looks further afield and in new directions, specifically electric motorcycles and elite machines. His ambition “is inspired by my grandfather and my father whose vision was to create a leading, global two-wheeler player,” he says in an interview at the company’s office in Singapore, from where he travels to India and elsewhere two weeks every month. In 2018, Sudarshan took up residence in the city-state, viewing it, he says, as “a good place to build a more global company.”
In a notable shift, TVS Motor edged out Japan’s Yamaha Motor to become the world’s third-largest maker of two-wheelers based on 5.5 million units sold in calendar 2025, behind Honda Motor, also Japanese, and Delhi-based Hero MotoCorp, controlled by billionaire Pawan Munjal. The company, which makes two- and three-wheelers in engine sizes ranging from 100 cc to 1,200 cc across a dozen categories, from scooters and commuter motorbikes to sport, adventure and exclusive wheels like Norton, is also the No. 3 two-wheeler maker in its home market.
As Sudarshan retools the company, he’s aiming to boost production to 8.3 million units in the year to March 2027, up 41% from fiscal 2026 and more than double the output in 2021. To achieve that target he’s earmarked 35 billion rupees ($370 million) for capacity expansion, EV development, product launches and scaling global subsidiaries, bringing total capex spending since 2024 to 133 billion rupees.
It’s all part of a roadmap Sudarshan and his father, who stepped back to become chairman emeritus in 2023, prepared six years ago. “Many of the things that we have done, be it investing in electric [two-wheelers], the global push, the greater premium push and the focus on innovation, are…in line with the vision that we came up with in 2020,” says Sudarshan, adding that his father continues to give guidance and is “always focused on customer delight, technology and innovation.”
“We live in a very volatile environment. It’s uncertain both presently and possibly for a period of time. So we have to manage the risks as we go along.”
Sudarshan has led the company “through a period of significant achievement, driving growth across our businesses with speed and conviction, pursuing acquisitions that have extended our reach across markets,” his father says in an email.
The Indian market for two-wheelers is the world’s largest by number of units, with 21.4 million sold in fiscal 2026, according to the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations, a New Delhi-based trade group. It is expected to expand to 27.6 million units by 2030 says a report by Chicago-based consulting firm Kearney, which cites low household penetration, the surging gig economy and the country’s rising urbanization as growth levers.
TVS Motor, which has three factories in India and one each in Indonesia and the U.K., claims 19% of the domestic two-wheeler market and according to Autocar India, a Mumbai-based trade magazine, has 7% of the global market in volume terms. The Indian market accounted for nearly three-quarters of TVS Motor’s total sales of 5.9 million units in the year to Mar. 31 (three-wheelers were 3.7%). The rest was exports, which jumped 31% to 1.4 million units in the same period.
No Brakes
Revved-up demand for two-wheelers in India, Latin America and Africa is fueling consistent gains in TVS Motor’s earnings.
The rise in demand is reflected in the company’s consolidated earnings, with revenue and net profit soaring at CAGRs of 24% and 39%, respectively, over the five years from fiscal 2021. That performance has lifted its stock on the Indian bourses fivefold since 2021 and 25% over the past year. In May, an Indian arm of Goldman Sachs raised its rating on the shares to ‘buy’ from ‘neutral,’ citing the company’s “superior volume visibility when compared to peers, driven by upcoming premium products.”
Other industry experts are also bullish on the company. “TVS has proven to be a great all-rounder in terms of its product positioning, portfolio breadth, its market reach, as well as its tech and manufacturing capabilities,” says Ketan Thakkar, group business editor at Autocar Professional, a B2B sister publication of Autocar India.
The motorbike maker’s growth over the past five years has been most pronounced in electric two-wheelers. Five years ago, TVS Motor had just one EV, the iQube scooter. Since then, it’s added the budget-friendly Orbiter and the high-performance TVS X electric scooters. As a result, the company’s domestic EV market share zoomed to 25% in fiscal 2026 from 2.6% in fiscal 2021 as it snatched the No. 1 spot from rival Ola Electric last year, according to government data. Kearney reckons EVs will account for 30% of the total two-wheeler market in India by 2030 from 7% last year as commuters seek more eco-friendly rides amid volatile fuel prices.
But the market remains fiercely competitive, with startups such as Ola and Ather Energy, both based in Bangalore, and legacy players like Pune-based Bajaj Auto and Hero MotoCorp with its Vida electric range. Foreign companies such as Vietnam’s VinFast and Japan’s Suzuki Motor are also building their presence in India across all types of EVs.
Another challenge is that the EV segment relies heavily on rare earths imported from China, giving Indian two-wheeler makers little control over supply and pricing. And components like steel, aluminium and copper coming from other parts of the globe recently were impacted by the Iran war. “We live in a very volatile environment,” acknowledges Sudarshan. “It’s uncertain both presently and possibly for a period of time. So we have to manage the risks as we go along.”
TVS Motor’s superpremium and premium motorcycles are another bright spot, with domestic sales rising at a 12% CAGR over the past five years, surpassing overall industry growth of 5.1%. In 2021, the company had just the TVS Apache bike in its premium portfolio with four different versions, starting at $1,200. It has since added two more variants of the Apache and a new model, the TVS Ronin, which is displayed in the Singapore office.
Plugging In
In the past six years, TVS Motor has gained dominance in the Indian market for electric two-wheelers, beating out startups like Ola Electric and Ather as well as legacy players such as Hero MotoCorp and Bajaj Auto.
Sudarshan has pinned his hopes on the iconic Norton, a more than century-old British brand long celebrated for its racing pedigree, innovative technology and cool designs. TVS Motor acquired Norton Motorcycles, which was under administration, in 2020 for £16 million ($21 million), then injected £200 million into its revamp. “When Norton came around we thought it was an opportunity to transform a brand with a unique heritage,” Sudarshan says.
While the Hosur plant, southeast of Bangalore, churns out Norton engines and also assembles some Norton models, the highest-end superpremium motorbikes are hand-assembled at TVS Motor’s Solihull plant in the U.K. The four new models, which are the first Nortons made under TVS Motor ownership, will launch in the U.K., France, Italy, Germany, Spain, India and the U.S. by next March, with the flagship Manx R model retailing for a base price of £20,250. “We could also grow [the brand] in many of the emerging markets with increasing affluence, where people can upgrade and enjoy these vehicles,” says Sudarshan.
But Norton is competing against heavyweights such as Italy’s Ducati, Harley Davidson of the U.S. and Germany’s BMW in the global market for super-premium rides. There’s also Austrian marque KTM, owned by Bajaj Auto, and another British icon, Royal Enfield, part of New Delhi-based automaker Eicher Motors, controlled by billionaire Vikram Lal. The segment, which Pune-based market research outfit Dataintelo defines as machines priced above $8,000, is projected to grow at a 7% CAGR globally to $34 billion by 2034 from roughly $19 billion in 2025. The above-1,000 cc segment, in which Norton operates, accounted for 41% of the 2025 total, the report says.
Analysts warn it’s a hard segment to crack. “The category is small and TVS is a newbie,” says Autocar Professional’s Thakkar. “It will be a long game. You need the reach, you need the brand and you need the holding power.” Sudarshan is confident that Norton can hold its own. “It has great tech and connectivity,” he says, citing its “newer [internal combustion] engines, lighter-weight materials and connected helmet.” Plus, says the motorcycling enthusiast, “the riding experience is exhilarating.”
Electric two-wheelers and Norton are key spokes in Sudarshan’s desire to make TVS Motor a more global force. The company sells in 90 countries, up from 70 in 2021, and has deepened its presence in Southeast Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa. But Sudarshan’s focus extends to Europe and the U.S. “We want to make a play in countries where we don’t have much reach now,” he says.
“When Norton came around we thought it was an opportunity to transform a brand with a unique heritage.”
TVS Motor has been in Europe since at least 2021, when it bought 80% of Swiss electric bicycle brand EGO Movement for $19 million (unlike electric motorcycles, electric bicycles have pedals that must be used to activate the motor). A year later it bought 75% of Swiss E-Mobility Group (SEMG), a distributor on the continent of several e-bike brands, for $75 million, boosting its holding to 100% in 2023 for a further $25 million. Both EGO Movement and SEMG were subsequently wrapped into TVS Motor’s TVS eBike division, established in Zurich in 2025. But some say the company faces an uphill struggle on the continent. “The e-bike market in Europe is incredibly hard to break into,” according to Deepesh Rathore, founder of Insight EV, an online portal for the global electric vehicle industry. “You are essentially going against the Chinese factories, and China really has the expertise and competitiveness in this,” he says.
Also in 2023, the parent teamed up with Zurich-based Emil Frey, one of Europe’s largest car retailers and dealerships, to distribute its two-wheelers across the continent. And in April this year it appointed a distributor in Malta to sell its EVs in Spain and Portugal.
By contrast, TVS Motor’s North American aspirations are “in the early stages,” Sudarshan says, but he hopes to make inroads with Norton. The U.S. motorcycle market is projected to expand at a 5% CAGR to $18 billion in 2033 from $12 billion in 2025, according to an April report from Chicago-based Cognitive Market Research & Consulting.
As he seeks a broader footprint, Sudarshan has been actively scouring the globe for talent. The company has hired three executives from Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), a luxury vehicle maker based in the U.K. that’s owned by India’s Tata Motors. In January this year, Nick Rogers, former director of product engineering and research and a 37-year JLR veteran, was tapped as TVS Motor’s president and global chief technology officer; Bernhard Heiming, a former chief engineer at JLR joined TVS Motor in 2023 as chief technical officer; and Ralf Speth, former CEO at JLR was TVS Motor’s chairman from 2022 to 2025 and now serves as chief mentor. Sudarshan has also sought to harness European technical expertise by purchasing Italian auto-design outfit Engines Engineering in September for €5 million ($5.7 million).
Sudarshan’s big-picture approach is a long way from the company’s roots as a bus service in the southern town of Madurai. His great-grandfather, T.V. Sundaram Iyengar, whose portraits adorn the walls of the Singapore office lobby as well as those of the Hosur plant, launched T.V. Sundaram Iyengar & Sons in 1911 and together with his sons built it into a massive transport network as well as vehicle dealerships and an auto-parts and tire maker.
Need For Wheels
Analysts say there’s lots of room for TVS Motor to grow in Asia, particularly India, where the number of two-wheelers per household is low.
The family branched into two-wheelers in 1979 under Venu Srinivasan, who forged a partnership with Suzuki Motor for technology and engineering expertise. The pairing ended in 2001 when the TVS group bought out Suzuki’s stake and rebranded the company TVS Motor.
Four branches of the TVS family had crossholdings in group companies until they were divided among the third- and fourth-generation members in 2022, with Sudarshan’s father gaining ownership of TVS Motor. “The unlocking of value has led to more freedom and more independent decision-making,” says Kavil Ramachandran, former professor of family business governance at the Indian School of Business.
Sudarshan grew up in Chennai in a family steeped in business. His mother, Mallika Srinivasan, has separate business interests as chairman and managing director of the $1.5 billion (fiscal 2025 revenue) tractor maker TAFE, an inherited family business where Sudarshan’s only sibling, sister Lakshmi Venu, is vice chairman. After his schooling in Chennai, he did a dual undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering and economics at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, graduating in 2010 and going on to earn a master’s in international technology management at the U.K.’s University of Warwick.
He returned home to join TVS Motor as vice president, becoming a director in 2013 and joint managing director a year later. In 2022, after almost a decade in which he helped scale the iQube scooter platform, extended the company’s global reach and made his audacious bid for Norton, he was made sole managing director. In 2025, he succeeded Speth as chairman. His efforts have been noted by the industry. “Sudarshan is planning for the next 20 years and not just for the next four quarters,” says Insight EV's Rathore. “He is positioning TVS Motor in markets and segments where it would not have gone before.”
While the young boss maintains that he’s “inspired by our values and tradition,” he’s clear that building global capabilities is the way forward. He has a vote of confidence from his father, who says: “I am sure that the most significant chapter of this story still lies ahead.”
In The Money
Notwithstanding his motorbike obsession, Sudarshan Venu is eyeing what he calls “a huge opportunity” in financial services, a sector projected to nearly double profits by fiscal 2030, according to the India Brand Equity Foundation, an arm of India’s commerce ministry. In April he agreed to buy U.S.-based Prudential Financial’s India businesses with a combined $3 billion in assets under management (AUM) as of Dec. 31 for an undisclosed sum. In May he spent $53 million for a close to 10% stake in Bangalore-based Jana Small Finance Bank with 333 billion rupees in AUM as of Mar. 31. TVS Motor will own a 4.9% stake in Jana with the rest held through a family investment firm.
TVS Motor’s finance unit, TVS Credit Services, which is 81%-owned by the parent and accounted for 13% of its revenue and 29% of its net profit in the year ended Mar. 31, already provides loans for vehicles, tractors and consumer durables as well as gold loans (lending secured against gold jewelry) and cobranded credit cards. “Now, [customers] will have access to savings accounts and current accounts,” Sudarshan explains.
The latest deals were made through TVS Venu group, which was created by Sudarshan in 2020 to oversee the businesses he leads. In addition to flagship TVS Motor, it includes property development, with TVS Emerald, and lifestyle, under Atelier Expressions.
TVS Emerald has nearly 1 million square meters of residential real estate under development in Chennai and Bangalore. In January, it received a $48 million investment from the International Finance Corp., the global development arm of the World Bank, for sustainable housing projects in those two cities. Atelier Expressions, helmed by Sudarshan’s wife, Tara, has investments in artisanal brands, including French Limoges porcelain house JL Coquet; an Indian restaurant in Dubai called Khadak; and Hedon, a London-based maker of premium motorcycle helmets and accessories.