India was a leading manufacturing country for centuries and it was leading exporter. The colonial period and the confusions that led to the same had weakened the production capacity of the country. Some regions like Coimbatore were quick to take to the tools as prescribed by the industrial revolution. This reaped rich dividends and the work of the Coimbatore based engineering companies created waves in the Madras Presidency. Coimbatoreans like R.Venkataswamy Naidu were sought after for their leadership by the people who ruled the region. The phrase ' Industrialize or Perish ' became the by word. D.Balasundaram, the amazing entrepreneur can be called a great creator of prosperity and his contribution can never be measured. Let us now look at the position of the Coimbatore based industries during the early fifties of the last century.
India was a leading manufacturing country for centuries and it was leading exporter. The colonial period and the confusions that led to the same had weakened the production capacity of the country. Some regions like Coimbatore were quick to take to the tools as prescribed by the industrial revolution. This reaped rich dividends and the work of the Coimbatore based engineering companies created waves in the Madras Presidency. Coimbatoreans like R.Venkataswamy Naidu were sought after for their leadership by the people who ruled the region. The phrase ' Industrialize or Perish ' became the by word. D.Balasundaram, the amazing entrepreneur can be called a great creator of prosperity and his contribution can never be measured. Let us now look at the position of the Coimbatore based industries during the early fifties of the last century.
The development of foundries in Coimbatore took place in the second quarter of the twentieth century. A number of artisans and craftsmen were involved in this kind of activity earlier. The onset of the industrial revolution and colonial rule had destroyed native enterprise. Therefore India had to depend on imports for centrifugal pumps until when production on large scale was commenced by M/s P.S.G.Institute, M/s.Kirloskar & M/s Dhandayudhapani Foundry ( DPF ) supplemented later by other firms. Eventually imports were banned but the market for foreign pumps faded due to low cost production which was reliable. Pumps were supplied at 30 to 40 % cost of the imported ones. This became possible because of mass production and advanced manufacturing techniques. Eventually Coimbatore became capable of meeting the national demand for centrifugal pumps. The PSG Industrial Institute , Textool and DPF emerged as the main concerns in the engineering and foundry arena.
Earlier, the members of the Viswakarma community were solely responsible for producing farm equipments, swords, knives, kitchen stuff and other implements which helped people to manufacture. The modern era opened up manufacturing to everyone and several people joined the fray.
The PSG family founded the Industrial Institute in order to use the surplus for charity. In the beginning it started manufacturing on a small scale some engineering goods, mainly connected with agriculture. The demand increased and the institute stepped up the production. They began producing agricultural , industrial , electrical and textile engineering products such as electric motors, centrifugal pumps, agricultural implements and machinery, oil milling machinery , machine tools and textile machinery. Not many are aware that the PSG Industrial Institute made excellent rose wood jewellery showroom furniture. The works were on about 20 acres of land and almost 800 people served it more than 60 years ago. It was quick to get into the approved list of suppliers to the State and the Central Governments.The institute created a lot of welfare amenities like canteen, bath rooms, cooperative stores, dispensary, adult school and visual education classes etc., Playgrounds for football, badminton, volley ball, ring tennis etc., were also provided. The early growth had been possible due to the good work of P.S.G.Venkataswamy Naidu, Diwan Bahadur P.S.G.Rangaswamy Naidu, P.S.G.Ganga Naidu and P.S.G.Narayanaswamy Naidu. Prof G.R.Damodaran and G.R.Govindarajulu were also directly involved with the institute those days.
Textool was founded in 1944 and the directors foresaw a great future for the textile industry in a Free India. The manufacture of textile machinery and spares drew their attention and plans were drawn in order to establish an institution with all modern equipments for manufacturing machinery for a spinning mill. The first ring spinning frame came into production in 1947. The encouragement received was remarkable and great strides of improvement were made within a short period. In 1950 , the revolving flat carding engines, drawing and flying frames were made and their quality won the goodwill of several manufacturers of textile machinery throughout the world. Eventually by 1954, the company could offer all the machines required for a mill. The factory at Ganapathy was in area of 120,000 square feet and 1000 people were in Textool even by 1953 ( textile division ). Another 350 plus people were in Pappanaickenpalayam in order to produce diesel engines.
The company had a good research and development department. Two patents were registered by the year 1954. Besides all this the company was producing Diesel Cold Starting and Hot Bulb Oil Engines. The staff and personnel in charge were Indians of high qualification and experience. D.Balasundaram, the great wealth creator for Coimbatore was the Founder and Managing Director.
Fifteen other concerns were involved in the manufacturing sector in the early fifties of the twentieth century.
DPF ( Dhandayuthapani Foundry Limited ) was founded by S.Narayanaswamy Naidu. His three sons Ramaswamy, Balakrishnan and Duraiswamy were involved in the business. The company was founded in 1924 and it began producing centrifugal pumps on a mass scale in 1936 - belt driven and direct coupled models. Began production of oil engines towards the end of 1951.
Subbiah Foundry in Pappanaickenpalayam was founded in 1944. They manufactured S.F.Centrifugal pumps and mono block pump sets. Vijaya Foundry used to produce Vijaya Centrifugal Pumps - belt driven and coupled with motor models. They were also suppliers of ' Vijaya ' Printing machine ( Cylinder Type ). Eastern Electrical Co Ltd was managed by D.Govindarajulu and it was founded in 1947. They made electric motors, pumps, agricultural implements, sugarcane crushers and textile spares. Radha Foundry was on Trichy Road and they specialised in boring machines. The machines were known as ' Radha Boring Machines ' and they could bore up to 200 feet. The company was managed by S.Govindaswamy Naidu.
Ramu Foundry was managed by S.Ramaswamy Naidu and it was located in Pappanaickenpalayam. The company was founded in 1950 and it made R.M.F Centrifugal Pumps. They used to repair all kinds of machinery. Sri Ram Industrials in Thudiyalur was a manufacturer of centrifugal pumps. ' Sri ' Pistons for Ford , Chevrolet, Dodge , Studibaker, Bedford Trucks were from them. It was managed by R.Ramaswamy. The other famous company was Farm Equipments Limited in Ganapathy. They used to manufacture F.E.C Threshing Machines, Boring Machines, Centrifugal Pumps and Agricultural Implements. It was managed by D.Varadarajan those days.
Kamala Industries in Kuniamuthur used to manufacture boring machines, sugar cane crushers and pump sets. They used to repair oil engines and the owners were K.V.Raju Naidu & Sons. Jaya & Co on Trichy Road manufactured pumpsets, Calyx Power drills and were boiler people. The Manager was J.R.Kamath and the Chief Engineer was K.J.Kamath. The General Engineering Co in Ranganathapuram manufactured ' GE ' centrifugal pumps. Everest Engineering Works on Cross Cut Road was a pioneer in steel trusses and other items. Nirmala Engineering Works in R.S.Puram was a leading manufacturer of steel trusses those days. Industrial Scientist G.D.Naidu had his own ventures. The P.S.G Industrial Institute indulged in printing too. Everest Somasundaram was another pioneer.
These engineering businesses were founded between 1924 and 1951. It was a time when the Coimbatore based entrepreneurs were at their best. More than 10000 people were employed in the engineering and foundry sector even before the Industrial Policy Resolution period.
These pioneers engineered the prosperity of Coimbatore . It is thanks to the role of these leaders , many unsung that Coimbatore is today a big destination for manufacturing. Time to salute their good work and innovation.