Smt.Rajeswary Ramakrishnan is an accomplished and capable industrialist of the South and has many achievements to her credit. She has successfully run, with a very high degree of competence, industries and has shown that women are no less than men in managing industry and commerce. She is a glorious example of women power at its best.
Antecedents : Mrs.Rajeswary Ramakrishnan was born in an illustrious family of the South Her father, the late V.Ramakrishna, was one of the first and foremost entrants into the ICS from the Andhra region which was part of Madras Presidency in the British days. After .having served with distinction in many top government positions in the South during which he was awarded the C.I.E. he knew with his sharp vision that the future of India lay in rapid industrialisation. He resigned from the Civil Service when he still had more than ten years of service left for retirement, and founded many industries Sugar, Cement, industrial units. In those days of sharp distinction between the sexes, he brought up Rajeswary like a son and gave her a sound education. She graduated at 17 in 1945 from Queen Mary’s College in Madras and was one of the very few women graduates of those days.
Achievements : Mrs.Rajeswary Ramakrishnan first came into industry as the Governing Director of V.R.Textiles (P) Ltd, near Coimbatore. Her father made her Director of V.Ramakrishna Sons, Managing Agents for the K C P Ltd and Managing Director of R S Industrial Corporation, Managing Agents for Jeypore Sugars and Krishna Industrial Corporation Ltd. When the Managing Agency system was abolished in 1960, she became Managing Director of Jeypore Sugars and KI C Ltd. Following Government of India’s regulation that one person cannot be Managing Director of more than two companies, she had to resign as Governing Director of V.R.Textiles which she was ably running.
Under the rigorous training of her father and expert guidance from her husband P.R.Ramakrishnan (who is also a noted industrialist from Coimbatore, who did his Master of Engineering from the Prestigious and world-renowned M.I.T. of Boston, U.S.A., been a Member of Parliament for 10 -years, Dy.Managing Director of South India Viscose Ltd and Managing Director of Madras Aluminium Co Ltd) she blossomed into a top class industrialist. Jeypore Sugars has taken big strides under her stewardship and today she is in sugar, alcohol, ferroalloys, carbon-di-oxide and starch. She is also closely associated with The KCP Ltd, Madras Aluminium Co Ltd, Eimco-KCP Ltd, Krishna Industrial Corporation Ltd, Radhakrishna Mills, Ramakrishna Industrials (P) Ltd, V R Textiles Ltd and Coimbatore Institute of Technology and Sandwich Polytechnic.
Service to Society : She has donated about fifty lakhs including land in her father’s name in his birth place, Guntur for a co-educational College and is actively participating in its functioning. She is the President of Sri.V.Ramakrishna Memorial College, Nagaram, which has become a model rural institution in the country today. She has put up the V.RamakrishnaJunior College in Chagallu. She has also donated liberally for the Engineering wing in the B R Reddy College, Eluru. She is the Chief local donor for the Men’s College, Women’s College and EyeHospital at Nidadavole which caters to hundreds of villages in West Godavari. This hospital is named ‘Rajeswary Ramakrishnan Lions’ EyeHospital’.
Other accomplishments: She has been very active in Rotary in Coimbatore for several years in the 50’s and 60’s. In 1957 she led a group of 27 rotaryannes to Srilanka on a highly successful goodwill mission. She was also very active in Guild of Services, Red Cross and other social service organizations but she gradually gave up these other activities to devote full time to her growing industries. She is still closely associated with them.
Connections : Although she is a highly accomplished individual in her own right, she is closely related to other high-calibre achievers. Apart from the father who was a great civil servant-cum-visionary-industrialist she is married to a brilliant engineer-cum-industrialist-cum-educationist-cum- Parliamentarian. She is the proud mother of three highly intelligent and talented sons. Her first son R.Prabhu is also an alumnus of the world famous Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston, U.S.A., four times M.P. and Minister of State for Fertilisers in the Rajiv Gandhi Cabinet. Her other son S.R.K.Prasad heads his own software firm and has been President of the “Operations Research Society of India”, a highly reputed professional body. He was recently awarded Doctor of Science by the City University of Los Angeles, California, U.S.A., for his brilliant work in the field of OR and Optimisation techniques. He recently got the Indira Priyadarshni Award and the’Vijay Ratna Award at Delhi. Her brother Dr.V.L.Dutt, besides being a top industrialist, has been president of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry. Her other brother Sri.V.M.Rao is a highly qualified technocrat and is the CMD of the sugar factories at Vuyyuru and Lakshmipuram. To shine in such distinguished company has been her singular achievement.
She is the recipient of the Pride of Asia International Award and Gold Medal for being a leading lady industrialist in a world dominated by men at Singapore on 11-01-1992.
She was bestowed the “Shakkara Prapurna” Award during 1988-89 season by the AndhraAgriculturalUniversity, Anakapalle.
She received the Award from FICCI in 1995-1996 for “Outstanding Woman Entrepreneur”.