The joint venture agreement between Ivan Stedeford - chairman
of Tube Investments, U.K., and his knighthood still in the future - was signed in 1949 with members of the family whose name is now
associated with the Murugappa Group. The group was at the time a small
business house manufacturing sandpaper and abrasives for the war effort
and buying and selling war surplus. It was the first joint venture
agreement to be signed in South India after Independence. By 1951, the
TI Cycle factory had come up to Ambattur in what had been a mango grove
and manufacture of the `Hercules India' bicycle began, the `India' being
dropped from the name by 1954 when international quality standards were
met.
That year, Sir Ivan and the Murugappa family agreed
on their second joint venture, Tube Products India. This time, the
factory came up on what had been the British Government of Malaya's
Immigration Camp. By 1956, the new factory was in production and other
TI factories began to be established in the Ambattur-Avadi belt leading
to a rapid growth of the area. To meet the needs of a growing workforce
that was swelling the population of Ambattur-Avadi, TI established the
Sir Ramaswami Mudaliar HS School in Ambattur, remembering in its name
the man who had initially introduced the partners to each other. The
company also helped bring a post office and bank into an area that was
still rural. What was, however, badly needed was a hospital. And TI
decided to establish it between Ambattur and Avadi.
When Sir Ivan was informed of the plans and,
shrewdly, also of the intention to name it after him, he replied,
"I'm delighted. And I'll do my bit. It won't be very much. I am
not, as many think, a rich man. But I will gladly contribute to the
project." And so the hospital received a gift of around £ 5,000 from him. He also came down to inaugurate it in 1966.
All plans for the hospital were drawn up in
consultation with the other Arcot Twin, Sir Lakshmanaswami Mudaliar. His
first bit of advice was, "Don't give anything free; it will not be
appreciated. Charge four or eight annas for an outpatient and Rs. 3 or
Rs. 5 for a bed, and they'll not only pay but also appreciate what you
are doing for the area.
