Tiruvellore Thattai Krishnamachari (1899–1974) was an Indian politician who served as Finance Minister from 1956 to 1958 and from 1964 to 1966. He was also a founding member of the first governing body of the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) in New Delhi, India's first independent economic policy institute established in 1956. Krishnamachari graduated from

Madras Christian College Madras Christian College (MCC) is a liberal arts and sciences college in Chennai, India. Founded in 1837, MCC is one of Asia's oldest extant colleges. The college is affiliated to the University of Madras but functions as an autonomous institu ...

(MCC) and was a visiting professor to the department of economics at MCC. He was popularly known as TTK. He has the ignominy of being the first minister in free India to have resigned due to his involvement in a

scam A confidence trick is an attempt to defraud a person or group after first gaining their trust. Confidence tricks exploit victims using their credulity, naïveté, compassion, vanity, confidence, irresponsibility, and greed. Researchers have def ...

.Subramanian, Samanth. (9 May 2012
Long View: India's Very First Corruption Scandal
''The New York Times''. He was also a member of drafting committee, an entrepreneur and prominent leader within the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...

.He was also deputy viceroy from 1947-1950.

Early life

T. T. Krishnamachari was born in 1899 into a

Tamil Brahmin Tamil Brahmins are an ethnoreligious community of Tamil-speaking Hindu Brahmins, predominantly living in Tamil Nadu, though they number significantly in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka, in addition to other regions of India, as wel ...

family in the city of

Madras 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 ...

(now Chennai). His father T. T. Rangachari was a judge in the High Court. He attended the Dharmamurthi Rao Bahadur Calavala Cunnan Chetty's Hindu Higher Secondary School, & later graduated from

. He founded

TTK group The TTK Group is an Indian business conglomerate with a presence across several segments of industry including consumer durables, pharmaceuticals and supplements, bio-medical devices, maps and atlases, consular visa services, virtual assis ...

, an Indian business conglomerate famous for its Prestige brand, in the year 1928.

Political life

T.T. Krishnamachari was initially elected to the Madras Legislative Assembly as an independent member, and later joined the Congress. In 1946, he was made a member of the Constituent Assembly at the Centre. From 1952 to 1965, he served the country twice as a Central Minister. He was the first minister for Commerce and Industry and also served as finance minister for 2 times. He also remained in charge of the Steel Ministry for quite some time. He became a Minister again in 1962, first without portfolio, then the Minister for Economic and Defense Cooperation and finally the finance Minister again, in 1964 and finally retired in 1966.

Later life

Krishnamachari was forced to resign from the post of Finance Minister on 18 February 1958 because of his involvement into the

Haridas Mundhra Haridas Mundhra ( hi, हरिदास मूंदड़ा; died January 6, 2018) was a Kolkata, Calcutta-based stock speculator who was found guilty and imprisoned in the first big financial scandal of newly independent India in the 1950s. ...

scandal.The Mundhra affair
Indian Express (12 December 2008). Retrieved on 2018-11-15. He was re-elected in 1962 and

Jawaharlal Nehru Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (; ; ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat— * * * * and author who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20t ...

had offered him any cabinet position except that of the Finance ministry but was rehabilitated in 1962 as cabinet minister without a post and again as the finance minister a position that he held until 1966. He was associated with

Madras Music Academy Madras Music Academy is one of the earliest established music academies in South India. Before the concept of infrastructure was introduced to India in the early 1920s, it was a gathering for elite musicians simply called (and is still more ...

. A music hall in Madras bears his name. He died in 1974 due to age related illness. Mowbray's Road in

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 ...

was renamed as TTK Road after his death.

References

External links

Budget over the years
{{DEFAULTSORT:Krishnamachari, T.T. 1899 births 1974 deaths India MPs 1957–1962 India MPs 1962–1967 Commerce and Industry Ministers of India Krihnamachari, T. T. Indian independence activists from Tamil Nadu Indian National Congress politicians from Tamil Nadu Lok Sabha members from Tamil Nadu Madras Christian College alumni Ministers for Corporate Affairs Politicians from Chennai TTK Group