V S T MOTORS PRIVATE LIMITED

Corporate

Driven by its core value of trust, the VST Group of companies today serves more than 5,000 customers every day with businesses in 7 different sectors and a turnover of over 3000 crore rupees a year. A business of this size and repute was not built overnight; it is the fruit of a century of dedication, foresight and hard work.

Like most epic journeys, the VST group's saga begins with a single step, simple, but with far-reaching consequences. In 1909, group founder V.S. Thiruvengadaswamy Mudaliar (1881-1949) was a sub-agent for Asiatic Petroleum Company (APC) in the Bangalore Cantonment area. An unfortunate misunderstanding precipitated the termination of this arrangement, leaving Mr. Mudaliar with the dilemma of fulfilling orders that had already been paid for in advance despite the lack of stocks. He solved this problem by purchasing equivalent products from agents of the Standard Oil Company and supplying them to his customers.

This innovative solution to retain the customers' trust, embodies the core values at the heart of the VST group's approach. It also set the groundwork for a growing business, a fact that was not lost on APC, who re-instated Mr. Mudaliar as their agent in 1911. This marked the formation of VST & Sons. Initially involved in distributing kerosene, the company diversified into petroleum products. In the early days, Mr. Mudaliar personally delivered kerosene supplies on his bicycle along with his team. In time the business grew to include petrol pump outlets in Bangalore and its suburbs. The late 1920s and 1930s saw another significant example of diversification as the company became involved in civil construction for the British Army.

Mr. Mudaliar's sons, V.T. Padmanabhan, V.T. Krishnamoorthy, and V.T. Velu, started to take active roles in the business in the 1930s. Mr. Padmanabhan followed a strict code of discipline at home and at work. His hands-on approach made him a natural fit for the construction business. During an outbreak of the plague in the late 1920s and the early 1930s, Mr. Padmanabhan personally oversaw construction sites. This inspired the workers who had been planning to return home, fearful of falling ill. One of them, a supervisor named Mr. K.R. Krishnaswamy not only stayed on the job; he eventually rose to become a director at VST Service Station Pvt. Ltd.

As one of the first Indians to study at the prestigious London School of Economics, Mr. Krishnamoorthy naturally took on the financial side of the business. He was the key to all the investments made from the 1950s to the 1990s. Mr. Velu proved to be a dynamic and far-sighted industrialist, steering the manufacturing sector of the group for over three decades, focusing initially on India Garage and later on VST Tilllers Tractors Ltd, becoming Managing Director and eventually Chairman of VST Tilllers Tractors Ltd. He was often known as the PR person of the Group.