AMCO’s Jayshree Venkatraman dies 2 months after father's demise

Jayshree Venkatraman, chairwoman of battery maker AMCO, died in Chennai on Tuesday. AMCO is part of the Chennai-based Amalgamations Group, of which her late father A Sivasailam was the founder and chairman. Sivasailam predeceased his daughter by just a few months – he died in January this year.

Venkatraman (49) is survived by her husband Murali Venkatraman (vice-chairman and managing director of WS Industries) and son Sriram Venkatraman.

Company sources said Jayshree died in a private hospital in Chennai due to lung disease.

The board of directors of AMCO had last month appointed her as chairman of the company. She was involved in the affairs of AMCO since 1993 and held various positions. The company has grown under her leadership; its turnover last year was Rs240 crore.

Jayshree took over as chief executive officer of AMCO in 2005, bringing marketing and manufacturing under her control, and became its director in 2006, according to a company release. In addition to her current responsibility as chairman, she was a director on the Board of Tractors and Farm Equipment Limited (TAFE) and was a whole-time director of Tafe Access Ltd.

Clearly, she came from a business family where her sex was no bar to higher responsibilities. Her sister Mallika Srinivasan is chairwoman of Tafe, and also the wife of Venu Srinivasan, chairman and managing director of TVS Motor Co.