The Chettinad roots to Charity
The AMM Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the Murugappa Group, turned a 100 earlier this week. Its origins were in Pallathur in distant Sivaganga and today its activities comprising education, healthcare, environment, research and sport have a pan-Indian presence. However, it is undoubtedly Chennai that has been the biggest beneficiary. It is in the city and its vicinity that most of the the Foundation’s institutions and activities for charity are located.
Forged in Myanmar, to flourish in Madras
The story begins in 1924 when Dewan Bahadur AMM Murugappa Chettiar, a businessman with interests in Myanmar built a charitable hospital at his village of Pallathur. Within a decade however, he began looking at India for opportunities and established a presence for himself in Madras. And by the mid 1940s, he and his sons had kickstarted manufacturing.
The beginnings were small – a company for making steel safes but soon activity expanded. An abrasives plant, the parent of the present Carborundum Universal began in Thiruvottriyur, followed by the manufacture of cycles and component parts under the head of Tube Investments in the Avadi/Ambattur area. The Murugappa Group grew thereafter manifold and its subsequent history is well known.
AMM Charities service to Health and Education
The AMM Charities, later Foundation, begun essentially to administer the Pallathur Hospital, grew alongside. Realising that Avadi/Ambattur needed healthcare and educational facilities, the Foundation, funded by the Group’s proceeds began doing the needful. The Sri Ganesa Vidyasala, a functioning institution in Ambattur was taken over in 1958 and named the Sir Ramaswami Mudaliar (SRM) School, after the statesman who had done much to help the Group in its first steps in industry.
At Thiruvottriyur, a District Board school was taken over in 1963 and named after Vellayan Chettiar, Murugappa Chettiar’s son who lost his life in tragic circumstances in Myanmar. Several decades later, in 1981, a third institution, the TI School would be added to the same area. Kotturpuram was a locality which owed much of its development to the Murugappa family and the AMM School came up here in 1985.
Rise of a Polytechnic and an iconic Hospital
It was just not schools, for the Foundation also foresaw that a rapidly industrialising India would need technicians to man its factories. The Murugappa Chettiar Polytechnic, now the Murugappa Polytechnic College was begun in Avadi, in 1957. Healthcare received its share of support when the first modern hospital in Ambattur was inaugurated in 1966. It was named after Sir Ivan Stedeford, the Chairman of TI UK. Likewise, identifying the need for research beneficial to people at large, chiefly with a focus on low-cost solutions in agriculture and nutrition, the Foundation supports the Murugappa Chettiar Research Centre, a nationally-acclaimed institution, located in Taramani.
Unwavering focus on People and Charity
A shared history of all the institutions has been their people-centric focus and charity. The SRM and Vellayan Chettiar Schools cater to the financially disadvantaged and as for the Sir Ivan Stedeford Hospital it still charges Rs 10 per patient for registration. All the institutions began small, grew with time, and have since flourished.
AMM Foundation going global – Borussia Dortmund
As the AMM Foundation steps into its second century, it has embraced sport. Its Murugappa Youth Football Academy, focusing on Thiruvottriyur and Avadi, does much to encourage the game among children in those areas. A shot in the arm has been the tie-up with BVB Dortmund as their youth development and CSR partner in India. It could take football to new heights in the country.
Project Nanneer – A pathmaker
Given Chennai’s history with water – either an excess or a complete lack of it, perhaps it is time the Foundation brings its expertise in environment to the city as well. It could replicate the success it has had in this domain in Sivaganga, in Chennai too.
This article appeared in The Hindu on Jan 23rd, 2024
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