R. Thyagarajan, founder of Shriram Group, at the company’s headquarters in Chennai, India, in April.
Photographer: Bhumika Bhatia/Bloomberg
How an 88-Year-Old Founder Clinched a Record India Finance Deal
Idiosyncratic financier R. Thyagarajan is betting a “non-interfering” Japanese bank will carry on his legacy.
When three executives from Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. arrived at Shriram Group’s Chennai headquarters last August to negotiate a multibillion-dollar investment, they expected to talk earnings projections and deal valuations.
Instead, the 88-year-old founder of one of India’s largest shadow lenders spoke about kaizen, the Japanese philosophy of continuous improvement. R. Thyagarajan, known as RT, launched into a long musing on how Japanese companies rebuilt after World War II with discipline rather than speed, expanded globally without losing cultural identity and prioritized restraint in cyclical businesses.