Vaman Srinivas Kudva ( kn, ವಾಮನ್ ಶ್ರೀನಿವಾಸ್ ಕುಡ್ವ; 9 June 1899 – 30 June 1967), popularly called V. S. Kudva, was a founding director of
Syndicate Bank
Syndicate Bank was one of the oldest and major commercial banks of India. It was founded by Upendra Ananth Pai, T. M. A. Pai and Vaman Srinivas Kudva. At the time of its establishment, the bank was known as Canara Industrial and Banking Syndic ...
, one of the oldest and major commercial banks of India.
Early life and education
In 1899, Kudva was born in a conservative, and traditional
Goud Saraswat Brahmin
Gaud Saraswat Brahmins (GSB) (also Goud or Gawd) are a Hindu Brahmin community of the north. The Konkani speaking Gaud Saraswat of Goa and southern India claim to be descendents of these Gaud Saraswat Brahmins of the north that migrated to K ...
(GSB) family ''(the family was known as the Mulki Kudvas)'' at
Mulki, Karnataka
Mulki is a panchayat town located at Mangalore taluk in Dakshina Kannada district in the Indian state of Karnataka. It is on the banks of Shambhavi River. It was earlier known as Moolikapur, turned to Mulki. A small town with people of diverse r ...
. His father Srinivas Ramachandra Kudva owned a small hand loom unit and used to cycle to work, when cars were unknown in Mulki. Brought up in simple surroundings, Kudva had his primary school education at Mulki and high school education at
Udupi
Udupi (alternate spelling Udipi; also known as Odipu) is a city in the Indian state of Karnataka. Udupi is situated about north of the educational, commercial and industrial hub of Mangalore and about west of state capital Bangalore by road.
...
. He took active part in school debates and was a good writer both in English and Kannada.
His father shifted to Udupi in 1908 and started a hardware shop, where Kudva spent his spare time. In 1918 he passed the Intermediate exam from the Government College, Mangalore and went to Bombay and joined the Mechanical Engineering Course at the
Victoria Jubilee Technical Institute
Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute (VJTI) (Marathi : ''वीरमाता जिजाबाई टेक्नॉलोजिकल इन्स्टिट्यूट)'' is a state funded college located in Mumbai, Maharashtra, In ...
,
Bombay
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- ...
(
VJTI
Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute (VJTI) (Marathi : ''वीरमाता जिजाबाई टेक्नॉलोजिकल इन्स्टिट्यूट)'' is a state funded college located in Mumbai, Maharashtra, In ...
). After 3 years as a top ranking student, he gave up his studies in response to
Mahatma Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...
's
non-cooperation movement
The Non-cooperation movement was a political campaign launched on 4 September 1920, by Mahatma Gandhi to have Indians revoke their cooperation from the British government, with the aim of persuading them to grant self-governance. and returned to Udupi. He worked as a volunteer teacher in a national school started by the
Congress Party
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 ...
under Gandhiji's call to replace English aided schools.
Joins the CPC Company Limited
From 1922 to 1926 he started an engineering workshop, and in 1926 he went to
Mangalore
Mangalore (), officially known as Mangaluru, is a major port city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is located between the Arabian Sea and the Western Ghats about west of Bangalore, the state capital, 20 km north of Karnataka–Ker ...
in response to the call of V. S. Kamath, the then managing director of The Canara Public Conveyance Co. Ltd. (CPC Co Ltd), and joined it as its works manager. In 1928 he married Kamath's daughter. In 1932 he became its general manager on the death of Kamath. In 1938 he was elected Managing Director of the company and continued in that position till 1966. During his regime The CPC Co Ltd progressed and prospered and earned a great name in the country.
Starts new industries
Kudva had realised that to provide employment and in keeping with the enterprising spirit of the people more and more industries must be set up. He put his conviction into practice by founding The Canara Sales Corporation Ltd. in 1938 and The Canara Motor & General Insurance Co. Ltd. in 1941.
He founded The Canara Workshops Ltd. in 1943 and started manufacture of
automobile
A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with Wheel, wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, pe ...
leaf springs
A leaf spring is a simple form of spring commonly used for the suspension in wheeled vehicles. Originally called a ''laminated'' or ''carriage spring'', and sometimes referred to as a semi-elliptical spring, elliptical spring, or cart spring, it ...
under the brand name Canara Springs in 1950. Considering the increased demand in Northern India he opened another factory in
Nagpur
Nagpur (pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, aːɡpuːɾ is the third largest city and the winter capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the 13th largest city in India by population and according to an Oxford's Economics report, Nag ...
. The Nagpur unit was closed in the late 60's due to various problems faced by the company. The raw material for the leaf springs, spring steel flats used to be imported into the country. In the late 60s Kudva felt the need for starting a mini steel plant to manufacture the required spring steel within the country. With this in mind a
mini steel plant consisting of a 5 tonne
electric arc furnace
An electric arc furnace (EAF) is a furnace that heats material by means of an electric arc.
Industrial arc furnaces range in size from small units of approximately one-tonne capacity (used in foundries for producing cast iron products) up to ab ...
, a vertical
continuous casting
Continuous casting, also called strand casting, is the process whereby molten metal is solidified into a "semifinished" billet, bloom, or slab for subsequent rolling in the finishing mills. Prior to the introduction of continuous casting in the ...
machine to cast
steel billets and a rolling mill was conceptualised.
This steel plant was commissioned in Mangalore in 1963, and production of steel started a year later after initial production related problems were sorted out. The continuous casting machine when commissioned was the very first in India.
In 1947 he started The Canara Tyre & Rubber Works Ltd. He also started and managed several other transport concerns. Bonus, gratuity, pension benefits were given to employees in his companies even before it became mandatory by law.
Interests in journalism
Kudva was interested in journalism during his student days. In 1922 he edited the
Kannada
Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...
Weekly "Sathyagrahi". From 1923 to 1934 he worked as editor of Kannada Weekly "Swadeshabhimani".
He was a member of State Journalists Advisory Committee. In 1941 he started The Newspaper Publishers Pvt Ltd. which then published the Kannada daily
newspaper
A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background.
Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports a ...
"Navabharath". As its editor he earned the respect of Kannada Journalists, and also organised the Akhila Karnataka Journalist conference in Mangalore.
Social leader
With
T. M. A. Pai
Tonse Madhava Ananth Pai (30 April 1898 – 29 May 1979), was an Indian physician, educationist, banker and philanthropist, most well-known for building the university town of Manipal, India.
He was the first to start a private, self-fina ...
and Upendra Ananth Pai of
Manipal
Manipal is a suburb and university town within Udupi, in coastal Karnataka, India. Manipal is located five kilometres away from the centre of Udupi City, in Udupi District, Karnataka (state) in south western India. It is administered by the Udup ...
, Kudva was one of the founder directors of the
Syndicate Bank
Syndicate Bank was one of the oldest and major commercial banks of India. It was founded by Upendra Ananth Pai, T. M. A. Pai and Vaman Srinivas Kudva. At the time of its establishment, the bank was known as Canara Industrial and Banking Syndic ...
, then called the Canara Industrial and Banking Syndicate Ltd.
In 1948 he was elected President of ''Kanara Chamber of Commerce and Industries'', South Kanara and continued as president for the next 3 years.
Along with
U. Srinivas Mallya he was instrumental in bringing the all-weather port and also the airport to Mangalore.
When he worked for the economic welfare of the district, he also contributed immensely in its educational progress. He started the Canara Foreign Student Loan Scholarship in 1955
now known at the Canara Foundation for giving Loan Scholarship for students going abroad for higher technical education. Once again along with
U. Srinivas Mallya he was also responsible for bringing the
Karnataka Regional Engineering College
National Institute of Technology Karnataka (NITK), also known as NITK Surathkal, formerly known as Karnataka Regional Engineering College (KREC), is a public technical university at Surathkal, Mangalore. It was founded in 1960 as KREC while to ...
now called
National Institute of Technology
The National Institutes of Technology (NITs) are the central government-owned-public technical institutes under the ownership of Ministry of Education, Government of India. They are governed by the National Institutes of Technology, Science ...
, Karnataka (
NITK
National Institute of Technology Karnataka (NITK), also known as NITK Surathkal, formerly known as Karnataka Regional Engineering College (KREC), is a public technical university at Surathkal, Mangalore. It was founded in 1960 as KREC while to ...
) at
Suratkal
Surathkal is one of the major localities in the northern part of Mangalore city located on National highway 66 (previously as NH-17) in the Dakshina Kannada district, Karnataka state, India on the shore of Arabian sea. It is a municipality mer ...
, and he was on its Governing body for several years.
Rotary Club
He was responsible for starting the first
Rotary Club
Rotary International is one of the largest service organizations in the world. Its stated mission is to "provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through hefellowship of business, profe ...
in Mangalore of which he was the Charter President.
He was President of the S. K. Development and Welfare Board, Small Scale Industries Association and S. K. Village Industries Association.
He traveled widely in India, and abroad. This was during the days when travelling out of India was arduous and rare. He had been to the Middle East, Europe, and the United States in 1951. In 1960 and in 1963, he traveled once again to Europe, the United States and Japan.
Legacy
Kudva died in 1967 and
Book
Two books titled ''V S Kudva - His Life and Times'' (2014) in English and ''V S Kudva - Jeevana Sadhanay'' (2014) in Kannada authored by M Vasant Mallya was published by The Canara Foundation, Mangalore.
On 27 November 2014 in Mangalore N. Vinay Hegde, Chancellor of
Nitte University
Nitte is a village in Karkala taluk of Udupi district, in the Indian state of Karnataka. The village is on the way from Padubidri to Karkala. It is 8 km away from Karkala, 26 km from Udupi and 54 km from Mangalore. It is located ...
, released the English edition and K T Rai, General Manager of Syndicate Bank released the Kannada edition.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kudva, V. S.
1899 births
1967 deaths
Businesspeople from Karnataka
Indian bankers
20th-century Indian businesspeople
People from Dakshina Kannada district
Mangaloreans
20th-century Indian philanthropists
Social leaders