Dewan Bahadur A.M. Murugappa Chettiar

He established a money lending and banking business in Moulmein, Myanmar in 1900. He then expanded his business to Sri Lanka and acquired a rubber plantation in Malaysia. He set up a yarn business in Coimbatore and Pollachi in 1930. Following this he established an insurance company called Indo Union Insurance Company. In 1933 they further ventured into petrol bunks, stock broking, automobile spares and rubber plantations. The Japanese invasion of South East Asia led the group to sell its entire assets in the region and focus in India. The Second World War threw new opportunities for business in office equipment, sand paper and emery cloth. In 1942 they acquired rubber plantations in Kerala. Following this they also acquired Jaya Spun Silk Mill. After independence they established Coromandel Engineering and Tube Investments of India. Soon they established Carborundum Universal in association with Carborundum of US and Universal Grinding of UK to manufacture abrasives and grinding wheels. In 1981 they acquired EID Parry that was sick and had interests in sugar, confectionary, ceramics, electronics and fertilizers. In 1993 the group set up Murugappa Corporate Board to give its diverse holdings a formal structure