rane group of companies was founded by shri t. r. ganapathy iyer in the year 1929 and the group was originally named as rane madras (ltd). it started off as a distributor of automobiles and parts. after his death, the business was taken over by his son-in-law lakshmana iyer lakshminarayan, popularly known as lln, among friends and business circles. under the leadership of lln, the company was shaped into an auto-component business house. lln remained as the founder chairman of the group for over three decades.