Paul Pothen (1916-2004) was an Indian industrialist and one of the pioneers of fertilizer industry in India. He was the founding managing director of three large scale fertilizer manufacturing firms in India. Pothen was born in a

Mallapally Mallappally (meaning "wrestler shrine" in Malayalam, from മല്ലൻ "Mallan" or "wrestler" + പള്ളി "palli" or "shrine") is a taluk in Kerala state in India. It is one of the five taluks that make up the Pathanamthitta district ...

-based Christian family on 8 January 1916 at

Nedumangad Nedumangad is a town and municipality in Thiruvananthapuram metropolitan area of Thiruvananthapuram district in the Indian state of Kerala, and is the headquarters of Nedumangad tehsil and Nedumangad Revenue Division (RDO). It is a sub ...

, in the

Thiruvananthapuram Thiruvananthapuram (; ), also known by its former name Trivandrum (), is the capital of the Indian state of Kerala. It is the most populous city in Kerala with a population of 957,730 as of 2011. The encompassing urban agglomeration populati ...

district and graduated from the

University of Madras The University of Madras (informally known as Madras University) is a public state university in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Established in 1857, it is one of the oldest and among the most prestigious universities in India, incorporated by an a ...

in 1935, after which he secured his graduation in civil engineering from the

University of Mysore The University of Mysore is a public state university in Mysore, Karnataka, India. The university was founded during the reign of Krishnaraja Wadiyar IV, the Maharaja of Mysore. The university is recognised by the University Grants Commission ...

in 1940. He continued his studies to get higher training in electrical engineering at the

Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee (abbreviated IIT Roorkee) is a technical university located in Roorkee, Uttarakhand, India. It is the oldest engineering institution in India, and was founded as the College of Civil Engineering in Bri ...

(formerly Rourkee University) and did an advanced course in Canada under the aegis of

Colombo Plan The Colombo Plan is a regional intergovernmental organization that began operations on 1 July 1951. The organization was conceived at an international conference, The Commonwealth Conference on Foreign Affairs held in Colombo, Ceylon (now Sri L ...

in 1965-66. Pothen started his career by joining the Fertilisers and Chemicals Travancore Limited (FACT) in a senior management position in 1944 where he stayed until 1965 when he was made the founding managing director of ''FACT Engineering and Design Organisation'' (FEDO) in 1965. Three years later, when the

Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Limited, also known as IFFCO, is a multi-state cooperative society. IFFCO is wholly owned by Cooperative Societies of India. The society is engaged in the business of manufacturing and marketing of fertilize ...

(IFFCO) was established in 1968, Pothen was made the founding managing director. He continued at IFFCO till 1981 and moved to

Krishak Bharati Cooperative Krishak Bharati Cooperative Limited (KRIBHCO) is a Central government cooperative under the ownership of Ministry of Cooperation, Government of India that manufactures fertilizers, mainly urea. The society was set up by the Government of India ...

(KRIBHCO) as the organization's founding managing director. He headed the Fertilizer Association of India for several years and was also associated with the Travancore Cochin Chemicals and Fact Technical Society. The

Government of India The Government of India ( ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, ...

awarded the fourth highest Indian civilian honour of

Padma Shri Padma Shri ( IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is conf ...

in 1977. He died on 3 August 2004 at the age of 88, succumbing to old age illnesses at Amrita Hospital in Kochi. The

named one of their townships as Paul Pothen Nagar, in honour of their former managing director.

References

Recipients of the Padma Shri in civil service 1916 births 2004 deaths People from Thiruvananthapuram district Businesspeople from Kerala Malayali people Indian industrialists University of Madras alumni University of Mysore alumni IIT Roorkee alumni Indian corporate directors {{India-business-bio-stub

See also

References