Muthiah Annamalai Chidambaram (12 October 1918 – 19 January 2000) was an Indian industrialist and cricket administrator. He was the youngest son of Raja Sir Annamalai Chettiar, Raja of Chettinad.

Early life

Chidambaram was born at Kanadukathan on 12 October 1918, the third and youngest son of

Annamalai Chettiar ''Diwan Bahadur'' Sir Satappa Ramanatha Muttaiya Annamalai Chettiar, Raja of Chettinad KCSI (30 September 1881 – 15 June 1948) was an Indian industrialist, banker, educationist and philanthropist from Tamil Nadu. He is the founder of Annama ...

, the

Raja of Chettinad ''Raja'' (; from , IAST ') is a royal title used for South Asian monarchs. The title is equivalent to king or princely ruler in South Asia and Southeast Asia. The title has a long history in South Asia and Southeast Asia, being attested fr ...

. He was the younger brother of

M. A. Muthiah Chettiar Raja Sir Muttaiya Annamalai Muthiah Chettiar (5 August 1905 – 12 May 1984) was an Indian banker, politician, philanthropist, socialite and cultural activist who served as Mayor of Madras city (1933) and Minister of Excise and Education ...

and M. A. Ramanathan Chettiar.

Career

He started off with a scooter factory in

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

, Automobile Products of India in 1946 and later became the Director of the Indian Aluminium Company at a young age. He was instrumental in founding the

Southern Petrochemical Industries Corporation Southern Petrochemical Industries Corporation Ltd, or SPIC, (, ) is an Indian company that manufactures fertilizer products. The company, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, was incorporated on 18 December 1969 and became a joint ventu ...

(SPIC) and served as the chairman till his death. He was the Mayor of Madras in 1955. He was the president of the

Southern Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Southern Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, formerly Southern Indian Chamber of Commerce, is a non-government, not-for-profit, industry-led and industry-managed organisation, whose primary function is to work for the development of industri ...

from 1951 to 1957. Chidambaram became the Vice President of the

Board of Control for Cricket in India The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is the national governing body for cricket in India. Its headquarters are situated at Cricket centre, Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. The BCCI is the richest governing body of cricket in the world ...

(BCCI) in India in 1956, President from 1960–61 to 1962-63 and treasurer for about twenty years. He was the head of Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) for 32 years. He was also the President of All India Lawn Tennis Association from 1963 to 1966. He played a significant role in the negotiations between the TNCA and the Madras Cricket Club over the construction of a stadium on the club's ground in Chepauk. Completed in 1980, this stadium was later named

M. A. Chidambaram Stadium M. A. Chidambaram Stadium, commonly known as the Chepauk Stadium, is a cricket stadium in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Established in 1916, it is the second oldest cricket stadium in the country after Eden Gardens in Kolkata. Formerly known as Ma ...

in his honour. He was also an honorary life member of MCC, the Marylebone Cricket Club. Besides being a pioneering industrialist, MAC is also remembered for his contribution to several other fields. He started the Tamil Isai Sangam to promote music in

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia ** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nati ...

. His trust contributed substantially to the Voluntary Health Service started by Dr K. Sanjeevi.

Family

Chidambaram has a son

A. C. Muthiah Annamalai Chidambaram Muthiah (born 1941) is an Indian industrialist and cricket administrator. He served as the Chairman of Southern Petrochemical Industries Limited (SPIC) and is the chairman of Sri Venkateswara College of Engineering (SVCE) ...

and a daughter Seetha. His nephew is the former Finance Minister of India

P. Chidambaram Palaniappan Chidambaram (born 16 September 1945), better known as P. Chidambaram, is an Indian politician and lawyer who currently serves as Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha. He served as the Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee ...

Legacy

The

in Chepauk,

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

(formerly the Madras Cricket Club Stadium) is named after M. A. Chidambaram.

References

External links

* ''M.A. Chidambaram, a multi-faceted personality'',

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the secon ...

, 21 January 2000 * ''Sporting fraternity pays rich tributes to MAC'', The Hindu, 21 January 2000 {{DEFAULTSORT:Chidambaram, M. A. 1918 births 2000 deaths Indian cricket administrators Businesspeople from Chennai Mayors of Chennai Indian industrialists Presidents of the Board of Control for Cricket in India 20th-century Indian businesspeople