Velagapudi Ramakrishna
{{Short description|Indian tycoon and philanthropist (1896–1968)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2024}}
{{Use Indian English|date=December 2024}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Velagapudi Ramakrishna
| birth_date = {{birth year|1896}}
| birth_place = Nagaram, India
| death_date = {{death year and age|1968|1896}}
| nationality = Indian
| father = Velagapudi Venkata Subbayya Chowdary
}}
Velagapudi Ramakrishna CIE, (1896–1968) was an Indian Civil Service (ICS) officer, industrialist, and philanthropist. He started the KCP (Krishna Commercial Products) group of companies in 1941 with a co-operative sugar factory in Andhra Pradesh.[http://kcp.co.in/aboutus.htm KCP Web site] He was a pioneering industrialist in the erstwhile Madras State.
Family
Ramakrishna was born in a Telugu-speaking landowning Kamma family to Velagapudi Venkata Subbayya Chowdary in 1896 in the village Bellamvaripalem (Nagaram mandal, near Repalle) in the Guntur district of India.{{Cite book|last=Damodaran|first=Harish|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WJp_DAAAQBAJ&pg=PA99|title=India's New Capitalists: Caste, Business, and Industry in a Modern Nation|date=25 June 2008|publisher=Springer|isbn=978-0-230-59412-8|pages=99–101|language=en}} He studied at The University of Edinburgh and acquired B.Sc. and M.A. degrees. He further was affiliated with the London School of Economics. His father (pre-adoption surname: Katragadda) originally came from Tellapadu, Maddipadu Mandal, in Prakasam District.{{cite book| last = Chalichema| first = Venkataramaiah| title = Guntur Jilla Kammavaaru| year = 1964| pages = 176–177}}
Ramakrishna died in 1968 and was survived by two sons and a daughter: V. Maruthi Rao, V. Lakshmana Dutt, and Rajeshwari Ramakrishnan.
Ramakrishna's second son, V. L. Dutt, a past chairman of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI),{{Cite web |url=http://envfor.nic.in/cc/cop8/chennai/vldutt.pdf |title=Welcome Address by Dr V L Dutt, Past President FICCI and CMD of KCP Limited, at the Conference on Climate Change Issues and Opportunities |access-date=12 December 2016 |archive-date=28 September 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928045357/http://envfor.nic.in/cc/cop8/chennai/vldutt.pdf |url-status=dead }}{{Cite web |url=http://www.ficci.com/media-room/speeches-presentations/2002/july/july13-climate-dutt.htm |title=Welcome Address by Dr V L Dutt, Past President, FICCI and CMD of KCP Limited : Conference on Climate Change Issues & Opportunities |access-date=12 December 2016 |archive-date=1 July 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090701072423/http://www.ficci.com/media-room/speeches-presentations/2002/july/july13-climate-dutt.htm |url-status=dead }}{{Cite web |url=http://www.iccindiaonline.org/events/oct27_04.htm |title=[ INTERNATIONAL CHAMBER OF COMMERCE ] |access-date=12 December 2016 |archive-date=22 January 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100122005321/http://www.iccindiaonline.org/events/oct27_04.htm |url-status=dead }}{{cite web| url=http://www.natcomindia.org/chennai.pdf | title=Conference on Climate Change Issues and Opportunities | date=13 July 2002 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111006225008/http://www.natcomindia.org/chennai.pdf | archive-date=6 October 2011}} was the chairman and managing director of KCP Limited.{{Cite web |url=http://www.kcp.co.in/html/Chairman%27s%20Speech.pdf |title=Chairman Speech |access-date=16 February 2022 |archive-date=29 September 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929091632/http://www.kcp.co.in/html/Chairman%27s%20Speech.pdf |url-status=dead }} His wife, Indira Dutt, is a daughter of the Raja of Muktyala and the President of the World Telugu Federation.[https://web.archive.org/web/20070308111329/http://www.hindu.com/2007/03/06/stories/2007030615960200.htm The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : KCP's Indira Dutt is now looking to new horizons] Ramakrishna's daughter, Smt. Rajeswari Ramakrishnan, is the managing director of Jeypore Sugar Company Limited. Her son R. Prabhu is the Congress MP from the Nilgiris (Ooty), Tamil Nadu, a five-term Member of Parliament[http://164.100.24.208/ls/lsmember/biodata.asp?mpsno=2846 Current Lok Sabha Members Biographical Sketch] and a former Union minister in India.
Positions held
- District Collector
- Director, Department of Industries
- Commissioner, Labour
- Development Commissioner, Government of Madras
- Member of Parliament
Memorial institutions
- The Velagapudi Ramakrishna Siddhartha Engineering College, near Vijayawada has been posthumously named after him.[http://www.vrsiddhartha.ac.in/ Welcome, V R Siddhartha Engineering College]
- He also funded the VSR & NVR College[http://gist.ap.nic.in/cgi-bin/edn/ednshow.cgi/?en=9403 Unknown]{{Dead link|date=March 2022| fix-attempted=yes}} in Tenali and the Sri Velagapudi Ramakrishna Memorial College[http://naacindia.org/Colleges.asp Accredited Colleges] in Nagaram, Guntur district.
- The Andhra Chamber of Commerce building in Chennai{{usurped|[https://web.archive.org/web/20070308114844/http://www.hinduonnet.com/2004/08/29/stories/2004082910920300.htm The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : In Chennai Today]}} has also been named after Velagapudi Ramakrishna.
- V Ramakrishna Polytechnic in Thiruvottiyur, Near Chennai is an institution within KCP campus and is named in memory of Velagapudi Ramakrishna.
Notes
External links
- [http://www.kcp.co.in KCP group]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Velagapudi, Ramakrishna}}