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Godfather of Indian Rubber Industry, Teresa Bhattacharya's tribute to her father PC Abraham ( Kurian Pampadi)

Published on 01 August, 2020
Godfather of Indian Rubber Industry, Teresa Bhattacharya's tribute to her father PC Abraham ( Kurian Pampadi)
PC Abraham of Pallivathukkal, Kanjirapally in Kottayam district, Kerala is the godfather of Indian rubber industry.  His was the only rubber stall at the All India Industry Expo held in New Delhi in 1951, the first of its kind in independent India. Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru visited the stall, sat on his Aeroflex foam bed and was wonder stuck by its ingenuity.

"After graduating in maths and law, my dad practiced as a lawyer in Trivandrum for two years. He could have won any job including government one, but he chose to return to his village," says daughter Teresa Bhattacharya IAS (Rtd) in a birth centenary tribute in 2005.Both Teresa and husband BK Bhattacharya retired as Chief Secretaries of Karnataka.
 
"As the eldest son of eleven children of Pallivathukkal PI Chandy, a headmaster and member of the Sree Moolam Praja Sabha  of the then royal kingdom of Travancore, Abraham knew that his responsibilities were huge. He returned to Kanjirapally to open a rubber dealer's shop in his hometown in the late 1930's. He went on to establish Travancorte's first rubber factory at Kottayam--the National Tyre and Rubber Company of India Ltd in 1940.

"My dad was a many-splendored genius, involving himself in many enterprises like plantation, real estate, education and whatnot. He served as a member of the Kerala State Electricity Board and also as president of the All Kerala Catholic Congress," Theresa recalled.

"We were 13 children--eight boys and five girls  All the boys--Joseph, Thomas, Chandy, Mathew, George, Sebastian, Rocky, and Jude--were enrolled in Montfort Anglo Indian School at Yercaud, Tamil Nadu and all the girls--Mary, Annie, Rosy, Teresa and Lucy--in the Sacred Heart Anglo Indian Girls School, also at Yercaud. Girls had their college education in the prestigious Stella Maris, Chennai.

"After my BSc in Maths and MA in English Literature, my dad persuaded me to appear for the civil services examination that I passed in 1965. While being trained at the Civil Services Academy at Mussoorie, he visited us along with my brother and sister. I felt he was beaming and was so proud of me, " Teresa reminisced the other day, on the occasion of Abraham's 50th death anniversary in 2020,

"The National Tyre and Rubber Company was established in Kottayam in 1940. At the very beginning, my dad bought a plant owned by a Dutch national whom he had accidentally met while travelling on a bus from Kottayam to Kanjirapally. Demand for rubber products during WW2 was so great the new company was a huge success.

By 1950's Abraham entered into a collaboration with Good Year Tyre and Rubber Company of the United States.  Headquarted in Akron, Ohio, it is one of the largest Tyre manufacturers in the world with plants scattered around the US. National in association with Good Year produced India's  first foam rubber mattress Aeroflex. Foam rubber was much in demand for seats in railway coaches, buses, trucks, cars and bikes. 

English company Dunlop of Dunlopillow fame stationed in Calcutta was the sole producer of rubber goods in India in those days. Abraham dared to challenge the English monopoly by travelling all over the country to establish contacts and set up agencies and showrooms. He later sent his son Thomas to the US to get trained in Good Year.

The collaboration with Good Year lasted only for two years and National was strong enough to be on its own. The company  employed as many as 500 workers during the peak of its operation, recalls son George Abraham running his own rubber factory in Bangalore.

As was expected Teresa emerged as the most famous of the Pallivathukkal girls. She joined the 1965 batch of the IAS in the Karnataka cadre where he served 37 years to retire as Chief Secretary in 2002. She followed her husband BK Bhttacharya, born in Barisal, now part of Bangladesh, to become the Chief. J. Lalithambika and her husband Mohanachandran of Kerala cadre were Teresa's batch-mates in Mussoorie.

The Bhattachaaryas have two children, Rahul and Arati and have four grand children.  All are in the US. While they were about to leave for the US for Arati's first delivery in 2008,   Bhattachraya was hospitalised with heart problem and had to undergo triple bypass. As strange would have it, Teresa was also admitted to undergo the same tripple bypass !

India's first couple to serve as Chief Secretaries and the first to have tripple bypases together. Are you not very unique in the world? I asked Teresa. A hearty laugh was the answer. Golfing, reading and Teresa's piano keep them engaged during the golden days. 

At Abraham's heyday, he was so engrossed in the company affairs, other business activities and personal and social commitments, that he had no time to take leave of his frenetic pace of life. He met with an untimely death in 1970 at the age of 65 while travelling to the State capital to receive a loan of Rs 2 million (Rs 8.5 cr in current rate)  by the State Industrial Development Agency to infuse new life into the company. .

Pallivathukkal family  now well into the third generation is better known for its Duroflex brand. Taking on companies like Kurlon, Sleepwell, MM Foam and the like,  Duroflex has five modern and automated plants across the country and is on an expansion spree. It is also the largest exporter of foam rubber products in India. 

Duroflex was founded by PC Mathew, brother of PC Abraham, in 1963 with Alleppey as its headquarters. Over the years, his son Chandy Mathew, a product of IIT Chennai and IIM Ahmedabad,  took over as Chairman and Managing Director.

His is younger brother George Mathew who joined the company in 1981, is chairing the board now and is looking after its wholly export oriented arm Cocolatex having a high tech plant in Moonnilavu, near Pala. Duroflex is also contract supplier for global brands like IKEA, UNA, Pampring, Simmons and Muji.

The new generation also has been geared into the company. Mathew Chandy, 40, son of Chandy Mathew, is the MD. A barrister at law from London, he was called back to Bangalore to take up the girdle. He has the company of Jacob George, Mathew George and Mathew Joseph as directors looking after different divisions.

"Ours is a 500 cr company. Has presence in all the length and breadth of the vast country. Sells 2000 beds everyday. We want to make it 3000," Mathew Chandy told me. "Above all we are also proud that ours is a company born and nurtured in Kerala which is India's rubber capital."

While Kerala still enjoys the monopoly of producing approximately 9 lakh tonnes of natural rubber in the country, India imports 5 lakh tonnes to bridge the shortage from Malaysia and Srilanka. Seventy percent of rubber is consumed by tyre manufacturers, the balance of 30 percent by foam and other industries. There are 1256 such units registered with the Rubber Board. Kerala leads with 182 units, as per RBI Dy Director M. Rajagopal.

Two more  related persons also need to be introduced. One is VJ Joseph Vazhayail of Vilakkumadam near Pala. Owner of 20 acres of rubber, he has set up a latex factory of his own with wife Dolamma as MD. He is an MCom with graduation in company law who ran two latex factories owned by the Rubber Board for ten years.

He feels India should cease importing rubber from any country especially from Malaysia for political reasons as it supports Pakistan in international forums. .Rubber Board or not, market controls the production and consumption of NR. We should increase production and become self sufficient, he argues.

The other person is Pious Abraham, a retailer of  foam rubber products in Koramangala in Bangalore. His father Abraham migrated from Angamaly and started an outlet in Infantry Road some fifty years back. The youngest of five brothers, George, Sando, Tito,  Prince. and Pious, he earned his MBA from the University of New Castle near Sydney, Australia.

Pious, 44,  is at the fag end of the retail chain Geosons, named after his grandpa, of ten outlets earning a gross revenue of Rs. 25 cr. Big marketing wizards like Amazon, Flipkart, etc shrink foam beds by vaccuming them into tiny pieces and drop them at clients' doorstep.  There were times when buyers visited the show rooms and bought things after experiencing the feel good factor. The style is fading. He has to use the marketing expertise he earned from New Castle to counter the new predators.    

Godfather of Indian Rubber Industry, Teresa Bhattacharya's tribute to her father PC Abraham ( Kurian Pampadi)Godfather of Indian Rubber Industry, Teresa Bhattacharya's tribute to her father PC Abraham ( Kurian Pampadi)Godfather of Indian Rubber Industry, Teresa Bhattacharya's tribute to her father PC Abraham ( Kurian Pampadi)Godfather of Indian Rubber Industry, Teresa Bhattacharya's tribute to her father PC Abraham ( Kurian Pampadi)Godfather of Indian Rubber Industry, Teresa Bhattacharya's tribute to her father PC Abraham ( Kurian Pampadi)Godfather of Indian Rubber Industry, Teresa Bhattacharya's tribute to her father PC Abraham ( Kurian Pampadi)Godfather of Indian Rubber Industry, Teresa Bhattacharya's tribute to her father PC Abraham ( Kurian Pampadi)Godfather of Indian Rubber Industry, Teresa Bhattacharya's tribute to her father PC Abraham ( Kurian Pampadi)Godfather of Indian Rubber Industry, Teresa Bhattacharya's tribute to her father PC Abraham ( Kurian Pampadi)Godfather of Indian Rubber Industry, Teresa Bhattacharya's tribute to her father PC Abraham ( Kurian Pampadi)
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JohnThomasM 2020-08-02 05:47:15
Thanks for the very good information.Duroflex had a Rubber Board P - Licence numberfor factory P140..?
BavaniRajagopalan 2020-08-06 09:29:40
Very well written article. Felt proud reading about Teresa’s father and family. Now I know where Teresa is coming from. I have great admiration for Teresa, an ex Sr colleague in service. What struck me most, as a young officer myself, was her poise, equanimity, and dignity. She is the first lady IAS officer in Karnataka to be the Chief Secretary, well earned achievement. I feel proud and honored to have known Teresa and Bipul Bhattacharya.
Rosemary Isaac 2020-09-02 07:35:38
A well written and researched article by Mr Kurien Pampadi, though it is not easy to comprehensively provide all of the remarkable achievements of Mr. PC A Abraham and Mrs Bhattavharya.
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