Vellayan Subbiah, chairman of Cholamandalam Investment & Finance Co, wins EY World Entrepreneur of the Year award

NEW DELHI: Executive vice-chairman of Tube Investments of India and chairman of Cholamandalam Investment & Finance Co Vellayan Subbiah has won the EY World Entrepreneur of The Year 2024 title.
Subbiah was selected from nearly 5,000 businesspeople worldwide. He was awarded the title at an event in Monaco,
India’s third win in a decade solidifies its status as the only country across EY regions to achieve this feat.
Vellayan assumed leadership in his family’s business a decade and a half ago, and guided Cholamandalam through a tumultuous partnership and global economic downturn.
During his tenure as chairman, the company’s market capitalisation increased 60 times.

Starting in 2018, he assumed leadership of TII, a 70-year-old manufacturing company, initiating its transformation through strategic investment reallocation and acquisitions.
Commenting on Vellayan’s selection as the award winner, Carmine Di Sibio, EY Global chairman and CEO, said: “The impressive growth of the businesses he’s led have been remarkable, but his story goes far beyond numbers. His humble and personable approach to leadership and his philosophy of enabling others to ‘enter a better life’ are the embodiment of what it means to be EY World Entrepreneur of The Year.”
Subbiah said as part of a fourth-generation family business, the spirit of entrepreneurship runs deep within him. “I firmly believe that by approaching challenges as opportunities and committing ourselves to a path of self- improvement, there is no limit to what we can achieve,” he said.
Vellayan joins the ranks of Dr. Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw (2020), Uday Kotak (2014), and Narayana Murthy (2003) as recipients of the prestigious World Entrepreneur of the Year (WEOY) award.
The EY World Entrepreneur of the Year 2024 was selected by an independent panel based on four key criteria: entrepreneurial spirit, purpose, growth and impact. This year, the panel comprised a group of entrepreneurs from around the globe, led for the second consecutive year by Kaszek Ventures cofounder and managing partner Hernan Kazah.