Companies and Institutions
Chidambaram established many institutions like Swadeshi Prachar Sabha, Dharmasanga Nesavu Salai, National Godown, Madras Agro-Industrial Society Ltd and Desabimana Sangam.
In response to the British India Steam Navigation Company's trade monopoly, Chidambaram started an Indian-owned shipping company. He registered the Swadeshi Shipping Company in October 1906. The capital of the company was ten lakh rupees. The number of shares was 40,000 and the face value of each share was Rs.25/-. Any Asian could become a share holder. The Director of the Company was Mr.Pandi Thurai Thevar, a Zamindar and the President of “Madurai Tamil Sangam”. Janab Haji Mohammed Bakir Seit paid Rs.2 lakh for 8000 shares, which was the first capital for the Company.
In the beginning, the Company didn’t own any ships, instead leasing them from Shawline Steamers Company. The B.I.S.N.C. pressured Shawline Steamers to cancel the lease; in response, Chidambaram leased a single large freighter from Sri Lanka. Realizing the need for the Swadeshi Shipping Company to own its own vessels, Chidambaram travelled around India selling shares in the company to raise capital. He vowed, “I will come back with Ships. Otherwise I will perish in the sea”. He managed to secure sufficient funds to purchase the company's first ship, the S.S. Galia; shortly afterwards they were able to acquire the S.S. Lavo from France.
In response to the new competition, the B.I.S.N.C reduced the fare per trip to Re.1 (16 annas) per head. Swadeshi company responded by offering a fare of Re.0.5 (8 Annas). The British company went further by offering a free trip to the passengers plus a free umbrella; however, nationalist sentiment meant that the free service was underused. The B.I.S.N.C. attempted to buy out Chidambaram, but he refused the deal.
The ships commenced regular service between Tuticorin and Colombo (Srilanka), against opposition from British traders and the Imperial Government.
Read more about this topic: V. O. Chidambaram Pillai, Political Life
Other articles related to "companies":
... During the browser wars, other companies besides Microsoft introduced proprietary, non-standards-compliant extensions ... With the rise of Internet Explorer, the two companies became locked in a dead heat to out-implement each other with non-standards-compliant features ...
... one of the largest Japanese automotive manufacturing companies in the 1930s OHTA, short for Organ Historical Trust of Australia ...
... Companies outsource to avoid certain types of costs ... Among the reasons companies elect to outsource include avoidance of burdensome regulations, high taxes, high energy costs, and unreasonable costs that may be associated with defined benefits in labor union ... This motivates companies to outsource for lower labor costs ...
... of the country, home to one third of Tunisian companies—including almost all the head offices of companies with more than fifty employees, with the exception of the ... Tunis attracts foreign investors (33% of companies, 26% of investments and 27% of employment), excluding several areas due to economic imbalances ...
... Many of the family-owned companies that once inhabited Rockford were acquired by larger companies the larger companies then relocated the products being made to lower wage ...
Famous quotes containing the words companies and, institutions and/or companies:
“Socialite women meet socialite men and mate and breed socialite children so that we can fund small opera companies and ballet troupes because there is no government subsidy.”
—Sugar Rautbord, U.S. socialite fund-raiser and self-described “trash” novelist. As quoted in The Great Divide, book 2, section 7, by Studs Terkel (1988)
“In my short experience of human life, the outward obstacles, if there were any such, have not been living men, but the institutions of the dead.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“In the U.S. for instance, the value of a homemaker’s productive work has been imputed mostly when she was maimed or killed and insurance companies and/or the courts had to calculate the amount to pay her family in damages. Even at that, the rates were mostly pink collar and the big number was attributed to the husband’s pain and suffering.”
—Gloria Steinem (20th century)