How myTVS is reshaping the aftermarket

The name of the game has now changed with digitalisation playing a big role, says G Srinivasa Raghavan, Managing Director of TVS Automobile Solutions, in a freewheeling conversation with Murali Gopalan.

- Murali Gopalan

G Srinivasa Raghavan is clearly a man in a hurry. As the Managing Director of TVS Automobile Solutions whose aftermarket brand, myTVS, is well-known across the country, he is now keen on taking the story to the next level.

The company’s digital arm, Ki Mobility Solutions, is an important part of this transition while more recent initiatives include the launch of the myTVS Life360 super app to provide a one-stop solution to customers. As Raghavan says, India is essentially a left-to-right distribution business model with huge layers in between and the best bet therefore was to disrupt the market.

“We realised that we needed to evolve a model specific to this country,” he adds. With the exception of North America, the aftermarket is a ‘do-it-for-me’ market which is highly layered and marked by “a lot of value depletion and inefficiency in inventory”. Additionally, there is way too much opaqueness because one layer does not know the other.

Raghavan and his leadership team at myTVS knew only too well that major disruptions have happened thanks largely to people who do not belong to the industry, especially tech start-ups. The other point to ponder over was whether the company needed to carry the ecosystem along which included 500,000 garages, 40,000 distributors and 100,000 retailers.

“It was important for us to look at what was the best way forward and we realised that technology plays a significant role,” says Raghavan. It was now increasingly evident that customers used their cars more to spend time with their families on long drives. It is during these times that his car needs to be taken care of when it comes to cleaning, washing, periodic maintenance or emergency assistance on the road.