SIMA building now houses 1st FinMin’s 59kg iron bust

Coimbatore: Union minister for textiles, commerce and industry Piyush Goyal on Thursday unveiled the bust of R K Shanmukham Chetty, the first finance minister of Independent India, at the building of the Southern India Mills’ Association (SIMA) here at Race Course. The 59kg iron bust is set up in the lounge of the building.It is to be noted that Shanmukham is the founder of SIMA, which is 90 years old now. When he set up the industrial body, it was known as the Southern India Mill Owners Association. SIMA was set up with an objective to represent the textile value chain in South India. Today, the association has more than 500 members.Rajesh Govindarajulu, a city-based historian, said, “Shanmukham was born into a wealthy family that ran Dravya Sahaya Nidhi Limited, a private scheduled commercial bank in Coimbatore, in the early 1900s.”Pointing out that Shanmukham had held several big positions, including that of diwan of Cochin in the mid-1930s, the historian said a road in Cochin was named after him - Shanmugam Road - in commemoration of his contributions to the development of that region.“Along with his family members, Shanmukham founded Vasantha Mills Limited in 1933 on Trichy Road and RK Sreerangammal Kalvi Nilayam at Gopalapuram on Avinashi Road in 1953, the year he died at 61,” Govindarajulu said.The historian said Shanmukham was also instrumental in founding the South Indian Textile Research Association (SITRA).Union minister of state for textile and railways Darshana V Jardosh, state BJP president K Annamalai, state BJP treasurer S R Sekhar, district BJP secretary Balaji Uthamaramasamy, industrialists and SIMA members were present on the occasion.
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