In memory of a pioneering industrialist of Madras

It was a #TIL moment for me. I had driven past ARK Colony, the cul-de-sac on Eldams Road, for years and always wondered what those initials meant. You could have knocked me down with a feather when I learned that they had recently expanded to Anantharamakrishnan. Yes, S. Anantharamakrishnan, founder of engineering company Amalgamations, has a space named after him in the city.

It belonged to S. Muthiah The 150-year Madras Simpsons Saga: Mobilizing India This brought to light much of the good work done by Anantharamakrishnan, or ‘J’ as he is known within the group, in recent years. What never surprises me are two things; The first is the focus on the Amalgamations name for a group that came together by acquiring several companies, at least in the early stages. You can’t beat the type of branding that says it all. The second was the belief in 1949 that India would one day rise as an automotive giant. Encouraged by this, J founded India Pistons Limited as the country’s first automotive component manufacturer at a time when not a single car was being produced in India!

Also read: Wheels that helped Madras become a metropolis

The other big move was to start the Indian diesel revolution. Legend has it that a truck operator on Wall Tax Road was called Simpson & Co. He later imported Perkins diesel engines and converted his vehicle to run on an alternative fuel to gasoline. This was in 1948 and following this the country began to progress, continuing today where public transport, people and goods are still diesel-based.

Transport operators were greatly indebted to J, and many respected him. One of them was Venugopala Mudaliar, who lived in a big house near Eldams Road. The land was part of the 13-acre tract known as Baobab, which was the former residence of Madras Attorney General John Bruce Norton in the 19th century.^Thiscentury and later that of P. Chenstal Rao, MLC. Other divided parts of the estate also had equally famous residents like Sir CP Ramaswami Aiyar and Sir Mohammed Usman.

When Venugopala developed the Mudaliar land as a residential area, he named it S. Anantharamakrishna Iyer Colony, which over time was shortened to ARK Colony. A plaque inside the compound still bears the full name. I think this is the only public indication of J taking Madras on his journey to becoming an automotive expert. There is also a statue of him in the Peace Gardens in Sembium, in front of the India Pistons factory.

industrial legacies

This got me thinking about which other industrialists in Madras had roads built in their honour. There is a TS Krishna Nagar in Mogappair who remembers one of the four TVS brothers. The Ganapati Colony in Gopalapuram commemorates TR Ganapathy Iyer, founder of Rane Group. I assume that Arunachalam Road in Kotturpuram commemorates AMM Arunachalam while Murugappa Road commemorates his father Dewan Bahadur AMM Murugappa Chettiar and his elder brother AMM Murugappa. Although he is mostly remembered for his philanthropy, it should not be forgotten that KV Al Rm Alagappa Chettiar, who is commemorated in Purasawalkam, was an industrialist. There are roads named after Raja Sir Annamalai and his son Raja Sir Muthiah of the Chettinad Group. The first was also named RA Puram and the second son Ramanathan is the name behind M(ayor) R(amanathan) C(hettiar) Nagar. The IOB area near Loyola is named Chidambaram Gardens after the bank’s founder, MCtM Chidambaram Chettyar.

The government would do well to include a few industrialists in its list in the latest renaming spree.

(Sriram V. is an author and historian.)