About the Book
Book: FORTUNE SEEKERS
Author: Raman Mahadevan
Publisher: Penguin/Business
Price: Rs 599/-
Tracing the rise and decline of the Nattukottai Chettiars South India’s legendary financiers and community builders, says KUMAR CHELLAPPAN
Humata, Hukta and Huvarsta (good thoughts, good words and good deeds) are the hallmarks of Zoroastrians, known more as Parsis. Both Jews and Parsis came to India seeking asylum to escape from the persecution carried out against them by the Islamists.
The then rulers of Gujarat and Kerala did not think twice before allowing them places to settle down in their respective domains. The Parsis and Jews did not let their hosts down — they grew up in India without hurting the sentiments of their hosts. It is not known whether other religions that came to India from West Asian countries are held with such love and trust by the original inhabitants of the sub continent.
Unfortunately for India, the total number of Zoroastrians is less than 57,000 while there are hardly 4,200 Jews. People belonging to these two religions have never tormented the Indian government demanding special status and rights — unlike the other minority community members who rate themselves as far superior than the majority community. The Nattukottai Chettiar, a community specialised in trade, banking and commerce, have played a major role in India’s rise as an economic power. They survived the Licence Permit Raj and the socialist system that were in vogue till 1991.
Fortune Seekers, authored by Raman Mahadevan, a senior business and economic historian, is an attempt to present the origin and history of the Nattukottai Chettiars. The book has a shocking disclosure for the readers. The community which offered livelihood and means to hundreds of thousands of families in South India and other countries in South East Asia is facing a severe existential crisis. Mahadevan says that the number of Nattukottai Chettiars (who are also known as Nagarathar Chettiyars) have come down to less than 1,25,000 by 2024. Whoever you speak to are unanimous in their view that Chettiars are experts in the creation of wealth.
Not only that — they do it for the society more than for the family coffers. The billionaires among them — like the Chettinadu Group, Murugappa Group, Karumuttu Thiagaraja Chettiar, Chidamabaram Chettiar, Alagappa Chettiar — are some of the eminent groups and members who had pumped in millions of rupees to open schools, hospitals, old age homes and construct chathrams (inns) at pilgrimage centres for the pilgrims to stay at reasonable rates and at times free of cost.
Perumbavoor in Kerala, a god forsaken little town, is a standing monument of the philanthropy of the Chettiars. Old timers recount that Perumbavoor wore the look of a ghost town before the arrival of M Ct M Chidambaram Chettiar, who set up Travancore Rayons Ltd — South East Asia’s pioneer rayon and cellulose film manufacturing factory. Though Chidambaram Chettiar passed away in an air crash in 1944, his two sons, M Ct M Muthiah and Pethachi, ensured their father’s dream came true. At its peak, the company employed more than 2,000 workers at a salary which they could not dream about.
The Chettiar family also built up a super speciality hospital for the workers as well as residents of the town. But all good things perish faster in Kerala. Within 30 years, the company was locked down because of labour problems. The demands of the trade unionists were so exorbitant that Pethachi, who was the managing director of the company, had to vacate the town in disgust. The trade union leaders tormented the management with demands that their sons, daughters, nephews and even neighbours be taken as employees in the company. Needless to say — the company was liquidated in 2020, machinery was sold as scrap and the land on the bank of Periyar River was acquired by the State Government.
The Chettiars are known for their elegance, aristocracy, business acumen and etiquettes. Foremost among them was MAM Ramaswamy, the patriarch of the Chettinadu Group. Hailing from a family of industrialists, Ramaswamy was more into sports. It was during his tenure as president of the Indian Hockey Federation, the nation won — for the first time (and for the last time) — the World Cup Hockey Championship (1975 Malaysia).
In a tete-e-tete with this writer, MAM had told that he took the Indian team to Malaysia at his own expenses. Neither the Indian Government nor the IHF reimbursed him the money he spent for the travel and boarding expenses. There are few Chettiars known for their cunningness and crookedness. A leading politician from Tamil Nadu may be the only Chettiar who had exploited the country as a milch cow and claims that he is the only intelligent person around.
The Chettiars emerged as a force to reckon with by the nineteenth century thanks to the process of commercialisation set in motion by the British rule, writes Mahadevan. By the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the Chettiars emerged as an economically dominant and influential business community and as major financiers in many parts of South East Asia, he adds.
The examples are here to see. The Indian Overseas Bank and Indian Bank were launched by M Ct M Chidambaram Chettiar and S Rm M Ramaswamy Chettiar respectively. Many insurance companies like United India Assurance Company, too owe their existence to the Chettiars. The story of Chettiars is inspiring and enlightening. They converted each challenge into opportunity.
Instead of finding jobs for themselves, they got jobs for millions. Mahadevan also gives an account of how the Chettiars reached Kanadukathan, a village in Karaikudi in Tamil Nadu. What made them turn to business was scanty rainfall — which made the vast land barren. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise for the rest of the country and other parts of Asia. The history of Nattukottai Chettiars is a must read for an average Indian.