K. P. P. Nambiar

K. P. P. Nambiar
Born 15 April 1929
Kalliassery, Kannur, Kerala, India
Spouse(s) Uma Devi
Children Padman Nambiar
Kiran Nambiar
Sarojini Nambiar
Parent(s) Chindan Nambiar
Madhavi
Awards Padma Bhushan
Electronics Man of the Year Award
Distinguished FIETE
Vasvik Award
National Design Award
Science & Technology Award
Republic Day Award
Institution of Telecommunication Engineers Award
London County Council Major Award

K. P. P. Nambiar MSc (Lond), DIC (Lond), FIEE (Lond), CEngg (Lond.) is an Indian industrialist and technocrat, known for his work in the field of industrial development and technology. He was awarded Padma Bhushan by Government of India for his contributions to the field of technology in 2006.[1]

Biography

Kunnath Puthiyaveettil Padmanabhan Nambiar was born in a middle-class family in Kalliassery, Kannur in North Kerala to P.P Chindan Nambiar and K.P Madhavi Amma. He has four brothers, Narayanan Kutty, Prabhakaran, Unnikrishnan and Ramachandran and five sisters, Gowri, Girija, Kamalakshi, Sarojini and Janaki. He has three children – a son Padman and daughter Sarojini from his ex-wife from England and a son in the current wife Uma Devi of Calicut. His early education was at Taliparamba's Moothedeth High School, 8 km away from home which he walked every day. From there he went to Pachayyappa's College in Madras and graduated in Physics with a bare pass. In 1951, he got his first major break and joined the Imperial College of Science & Technology, University of London[2] for higher studies in Transistors and Semi-Conductors.

Nambiar started his career as a research scholar in semi-conductor technology at Imperial College from 1954 to 1957 and moved to Texas Instruments, USA. 1963 saw him leaving his job in Texas Instruments to come to India, as Scientist Pool Officer under the C.S.I.R, to teach modern semiconductor electronics in the Electrical Engineering Department of the Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi, as a part of the Scientist pool scheme initiated by Late Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to bring back talented Indians working abroad.[3] Nambiar stayed there till 1964 before joining Philips India as Manager of Projects. in 1967, he left Philips and joined Bharat Electronics Limited as Joint Head of the Piezo Electric Crystal Division in Bangalore, where he set up the first communication crystals factory in India[3] during his brief stay there.

Towards the fag end of 1967, Nambiar joined Tata as the general manager of National Radio & Electronics Co. Ltd., (NELCO). In two years with the company, he set up the first applied Electronic Research and Development Centre for industrial electronics in India. He was also instrumental in introducing a number of new products under NELCO banner such as speed control for AC and DC Motors, Static Inverters and Converters, Calculators, Electronic Clocks and Display Systems. Silicon transistor Radios were introduced for the first time in the country in 1968 by NELCO during this period. That was when he received an invitation from Kerala Government to set up an electronics manufacturing firm in Kerala.

Kerala State Electronics Development Corporation Limited (KELTRON) was formed in 1973 with K. P. P. Nambiar as its first chairman and managing director. He remained in that position till 1983 when he was made the Executive chairman till his retirement in 1985. In 1985, Nambiar was appointed as the chairman and managing director of Indian Telephone Industries Limited, the largest Public Sector Company in Telecommunication in India and retired from Government service in 1989.

Kerala Government, in 1989, appointed him as the Honorary Special Advisor and that was when he drew up the blue print for Techno Park in Thiruvananthapuram. The Park came into existence on 31 March 31, 1991.

Whie acting as the Special Advisor, Nambiar set up a private company in Bangalore, Namtech Electronic Devices Limited, for the manufacture of Fail Safe Gas Discharge Tubes used as Surge Arresters in Electronic and Telecommunication equipment. Namtech is also involved in the manufacture of quartz crystals, crystal oscillators, light emitting diodes (LEDs) and LED Displays.[4]

In February 1995, Nambiar launched an INR 15 billion project to generate 513 MW of Power under the name of Kannur Power Projects (P) Limited in his native Panchayat of Kalliasseri in Kannur District in North Kerala. However, the project ran into political and supply issues and had to be abandoned.[2]

He was also instrumental in the launching of a joint venture company Bowthorpe Thermometrics India (P) Limited, with Bowthorpe of UK and Namtech Consultants (P) Limited to manufacture Thermisters (a temperature dependent Resistor) in 1996. Bowthorpe has since transferred its ownership to GE in October 2001.

Since 2000, Nambiar has been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease and has remained bed-ridden in his home in Bangalore.

Legacy

Park Centre, the administration office of Technopark

As the Secretary, Department of Electronics of Government of India (1986–89), Nambiar was successful in the establishment of C-DAC, STPI, CEDTI and VLSI laboratories.[2]

During his stint (1989 to 1991) as the Special Advisor to the Government of Kerala on Industries, Nambiar set up India's first Electronic Technology Park (Techno Park) in Trivandrum to provide infrastractural support required to set up high technology electronic units in the State. He also set up a chain of Electronic Industries in different parts of Kerala from Trivandrum to Kannur in the major areas of electronic components, industrial electronics, consumer electronics and telecommunication between 1973 and 1984.

He was responsible for expanding Palakkad unit of Indian Telephone Industries Limited from a INR 40 million unit to an INR 2 billion enterprise.[5] Nambiar is credited with evolving a new concept of consortium of ancillary industries by mobilising all the 41 ancillary industries of Indian Telephone Industries in Bangalore to form a consortium company to manufacture plan 103 telephone instruments with a turnover of more than INR 200 million.

As the Founder Chairman of Keltron, Nambiar was instrumental in taking electronics to the villages by setting up 50 women's co-operatives that produced most of the consumer products sold by Keltron. He also developed the R&D Center for Keltron, the Electronics Research & Development Center, which was later taken over by the Department of Electronics and has now been brought under C-DAC.[2] KELTRON, was the first autonomous Corporation in the State sector in India, an example later emulated by several state Governments in the country.

Keltron

During his tenure in Keltron, he set up the Electronics Research and Development Centre (ER & DC) as an autonomous society at Trivandrum in 1974 for application oriented electronic research and development which is now a national centre for excellence in Applied Electronics.

During his stint as the Honorary Special Advisor to Government of Kerala on Industries, Nambiar influenced Ratan Tata, the Chairman of Tata Industries, to invest in Kerala, resulting in the formation of Taj Hotels and Resorts, Kerala and Tata Ceramics (Kerala) Limited.

Positions held

Awards

Padma Bhushan
Awarded by President of India
Ribbon

External links

References

  1. ↑ "Padma Bhushan for corporate honchos | Business Standard". business-standard.com. Retrieved 7 May 2014.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 "KPP Nambiar, the unsung giant of India – CIOL". ciol.com. Retrieved 7 May 2014.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "KPP Nambiar (Role Model) | Shijinprasad's Blog". shijinprasad.wordpress.com. Retrieved 7 May 2014.
  4. ↑ "NED Profile & Executives – Namtech Electronic Devices – Bloomberg". bloomberg.com. Retrieved 7 May 2014.
  5. ↑ "K. Nambiar: Executive Profile & Biography – Businessweek". investing.businessweek.com. Retrieved 7 May 2014.