T. V. Sundaram

T. V. Sundaram Iyengar (Trichur Venkagaruswamy) was an industrialist, the founder of TV Sundaram Iyengar and Sons group of companies, one of India's largest industrial conglomerates.[1] With his humble beginning as a lawyer, he grew into one of the most successful industrialists of his time. The Flagship Company of the group is TVS Motors. He laid foundation for road transport industry in the erstwhile Madras Presidency through the states first bus service. The TVS group he thus started now extends from motor industry, autoservices to financial services.

Birth and early life

Sundaram Iyengar was born in Thirukkurungudi, Tirunelveli District in the present day Tamil Nadu (then part of Madras Presidency) in 1877. Sundaram Iyengar started his initial career as a lawyer, as per his father's wishes, then moved to work for the Indian railways and later in a bank.

Personal life and death

Sundaram Iyengar proved himself as a forward thinker when he got his daughter T. S. Soundaram, then a teenage widow, remarried, under the auspice of Mahatma Gandhi. TS Soundaram then involved herself in the Indian independence movement along with Gandhi. He was later honoured with a postal stamp released in her honour.
Apart from being a successful business man, Sundaram Iyengar was a patron of the arts. He was praised by Rajaji, a senior statesmen in the Congress party of India at that time, for his gesture of retiring and handing over the trade to his sons. He died in the early hours of April 28, 1955 at his residence in Kodaikanal at the age of 78 and at that time was survived by his wife, four sons and three daughters. Sundaram Iyengar was honoured by the Union Government of India by unveiling busts in bronze and in marble in the city of Madurai, Tamil Nadu on August 7, 1956.

As an industrialist
Sundaram Iyengar later quit his jobs and laid the foundation for the motor transport industry in South India when he first started a bus service in the city of Madurai in the year 1912. He established the T.V. Sundaram Iyengar and Sons Limited in 1923, which by his death in 1955, operated a number of buses and lorries under the title of Southern Roadways Limited. This paved the way for the genesis of the TVS Group. During the times of the second world war, Madras Presidency was met with petrol scarcity. To meet the demands, Sundaram Iyengar designed and produced the TVS Gas Plant. He also started a factory for rubber retreading, besides two more concerns, the Madras Auto Service Ltd. and the Sundaram Motors Ltd., the former was the largest distributors of General Motors in the 1950s. What started as a single man’s passion soon became the business of a family. Sundaram Iyengar had five sons and three daughters, and in his patriarchal Tamil Brahmin family all male members got into the business. With his eldest son, Duraisamy’s early death, four other sons— T. S. Rajam, T. S. Santhanam, T. S. Srinivasan and T.S. Krishna — became an integral part of the business and ever since there have been four largely distinct branches that, however, have worked under the TVS umbrella. The group established by Sundaram Iyengar, according to the company, is currently the largest automobile distribution company in India, enjoys a turnover of about US$ 1 Billion (INR 40,000 Million) and has an employee strength of 4000. The group operates in diverse fields like automotive component manufacturing, automotive dealerships, finances and electronics, as well as into IT solutions and services. Some of the TVS group are:
Wheels India
Brakes India
Sundram Fasteners
TVS Infotech (Visit Website)
TVS Motor Company
Sundaram Finance
Turbo Energy Limited
Axles India
Sundaram Clayton
Lucas TVS
Sundaram Motors
Sundaram Brake Linings
TVS Logistics
TVS Southern Roadways LTD.

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