The making of the rubber baron

In 1989 the current group chairman T T Jagannathan and his mother Mrs Padma Narashiman wanted Srinivasan to head the Rs9-crore turnover condom company TTK LIG. The joint venture partner LIG, UK, wanted a relook at the Indian venture and also explore the possibilities of sourcing sheaths from India.

TTK LIG's total capacity then was 200 million pieces per year. The majority of the production went to the central government and only 30 million pieces were sold in the market.

Accepting the new assignment, Srinivasan visited the company's Chennai plant along with LIG's executives. The foreigners were shocked to see condom packets being stuffed in gunny bags and tied with a jute rope. They realised that a single strand of jute could damage the "mission critical" products.

Immediately Srinivasan banned the use of jute and gunny bags in the company. He also ordered a reengineering of the plant and capacity expansion. From 1990 onwards the condom business started growing rapidly with LIG steadily increasing its sourcing from India.

Sensing an opportunity to extract additional benefits, the labour struck work. However, the new CEO stood firm and the strike fizzled out quickly as he ordered the plant to be operated by just the management staff.

In order to increase exports and to bid for international tenders Srinivasan decided to submit the plants for more than a dozen quality certifications. Subsequently, he also embarked upon total productivity maintenance programme (See: The condom experience)