In memory of a pioneering industrialist of Madras

It was a #TIL moment for me. For years, I had passed by A.R.K. Colony, a cul-de-sac off Eldams Road, and always wondered as to what those initials stood for. You could have knocked me down with a feather when I got to know recently that they expanded to Anantharamakrishnan. Yes, S. Anantharamakrishnan, the founder of Amalgamations, that engineering conglomerate, has a space in the city named after him. 

It was S. Muthiah’s Getting India on the Move, the 150-year Saga of Simpsons of Madras that, in recent years, brought to light much of the good work done by Anantharamakrishnan, or ‘J’ as he was known within the group. What never fails to stun me are two aspects – the first is the zeroing in on the name Amalgamations for a group that, in the initial stages at least, came together by acquiring several companies. You cannot beat the kind of branding that says it all. The second was the belief, in 1949, that India would one day rise as an automotive giant. Spurred by that, J set up India Pistons Limited as the country’s first automotive component manufacturer at a time when not a single car was made in India! 

Also read: Wheels that aided the advancement of Madras into a metropolis

The other great move was kickstarting the Indian diesel revolution. Legend has it that it was at Wall Tax Road that a truck operator was actually paid by Simpson & Co., then importing Perkins diesel engines, to convert his vehicle to operate on this alternative fuel to petrol. That was in 1948 and what followed was the country moving over, continuing today when public transport, of people and goods, is still diesel based. 

The transport operators were greatly beholden to J, and many venerated him. One such was Venugopala Mudaliar, who lived in a large house off Eldams Road. The land was part of the 13-acre estate known as the Baobab, the erstwhile residence of John Bruce Norton, Advocate General of Madras in the 19^thcentury, and later that of P. Chenstal Rao, MLC. Other divided parts of the property had equally illustrious residents, namely Sir C.P. Ramaswami Aiyar and Sir Mohammed Usman. 

When Venugopala Mudaliar developed his land as a residential enclave, he named it S. Anantharamakrishna Iyer Colony, which over time was truncated to A.R.K. Colony. A plaque inside the compound still carries the full name. This, I think, is the only public marker for J – the man who set Madras off on its journey to becoming an auto major. There is also a statue to him inside Huzur Gardens, Sembium, in front of the India Pistons plant.

Industrial legacies

That led me to ponder over which other industrialists of Madras have roads in their honour. There is a T.S. Krishna Nagar in Mogappair, remembering one of the four T.V.S. brothers. Ganapati Colony in Gopalapuram commemorates T.R. Ganapathy Iyer, the founder of the Rane Group. And I assume Arunachalam Road in Kotturpuram commemorates A.M.M. Arunachalam, while Murugappa Road commemorates his father Dewan Bahadur A.M.M. Murugappa Chettiar and older brother A.M.M. Murugappa. Though remembered more for his philanthropy, it must not be forgotten that K.V. Al Rm Alagappa Chettiar, commemorated in Purasawalkam, was an industrialist. Raja Sir Annamalai and his son Raja Sir Muthiah of the Chettinad Group have roads in their names. The former also has R.A. Puram named after him and his second son Ramanathan is the name behind M(ayor) R(amanathan) C(hettiar) Nagar. The IOB enclave near Loyola is named Chidambaram Gardens after MCtM Chidambaram Chettyar, the founder of the bank. 

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

(Sriram V. is a writer and historian.)