CHENNAI: P.R. Ramasubrahmaneya Rajha, Chairman of the Rajapalayam-based Ramco Group that has interests in cement, software and textiles, passed away here on Thursday due to age-related illness. He was 81 and is survived by wife and son.
The 81-year-old breathed his last on Thursday evening at his palatial bungalow in Rajapalayam in Virudhunagar district. His last rites will be held in Rajapalayam on Friday.
Ramasubrahmaneya Rajha has been heading the Rs 6,500 crore Ramco Group for the past half a century and during his tenure, he expanded the conglomerate’s interest to business like spinning mills, cement, software solutions, wind energy and bio-technology.
After taking over from his father at an young age of 25, Ramasubrahmaneya Rajha was the first South Indian conglomerate to set up a sheet factory in North India when he built an unit in Madhya Pradesh. Ramco Cements capacity was 16,000 tonnes when he took over, but he increased it to 16 million tonnes by setting up 10 cement manufacturing units across the country.
His son, P.R. Venketrama Raja (affectionately called PRV), is currently the vice-chairman of the group. Ramco Cements is a household name in Tamil Nadu and elsewhere in Southern India as it was one of the most trusted brands in this part of the world.
In 1938, two years after Ramasubrahmaneya Rajha was born, his father P.A.C. Ramaswamy Raja setup the first spinning mill at Rajapalayam, which later became the focal point of the Ramco Group. From textiles, the company’s interests expanded to varied fields under the chairmanship of Ramasubrahmaneya Rajha.
