New Delhi, Sept. 23 -- Industrialist Venu Srinivasan is trending this week after publicly defying a directive from the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust (SDTT) that tried to stop him from voting on Tata Sons' proposed IPO. He voted for the listing anyway, calling the Trust's move invalid, a stand that has renewed attention on one of India's more understated figures. Here's a closer look at who he is.

Srinivasan, a non-executive director on the Tata Sons board, was one of four directors who voted in favour of reappointing N Chandrasekaran as chairman of Tata Sons and the proposed listing of the Tata group holding company at a board meeting held this week, with Tata Trusts chairman Noel Tata casting the sole dissenting vote.

The vote followed a reso...