Starting off as a management trainee at Sundram Fasteners (SFL) in 1990, Arathi Krishna rose through the ranks. Nearly three decades later, she became the MD in 2018, succeeding her father after his retirement. SFL, earlier a part of the erstwhile $8.5 billion TVS Group, is now free to chart its own course after the group restructured last year. Already on top, she is building SFL into a global brand through innovation as she aims to transform it from a component maker to a supplier of sub-assemblies to EV players. “We have a target of 50 per cent of our top line to be non-auto and EV in five years,” says Krishna. Seems she is ready for the ride.