Who is KP Ramasamy? Son of a Farmer who is an Entrant to Forbes Rich List

Recently on Thursday, India's Richest Indians list was released by Forbes. As can be guessed by many Mukesh Ambani, chairman of Reliance Industries stood as the richest one in the country. 

The second spot on the list was occupied by Gautam Adani. The third one on the list was Shiv Nadar.

Along with all these prestigious names, one name is receiving a lot of applause. That name is of the son of a farmer whose hard work made him enter the list of the richest people in India. It is the founder and chairman of KPR Mill, KP Ramasamy, whose entry in the list is making the whole country proud. At present, the man stands at the 100th spot in the list, holding a net worth of Rs.9,143 crores ($2.3 billion).

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The life journey of the son of a farmer in India making up to the list makes up a highly inspirational story.

The man comes from an agricultural family in India. It was in the year 1984 when the man founded the KPR Mill.

In the year 2013, the man expanded his company into sugar production. Later, the company also started selling a men's innerwear brand, Faso, in the year 2019. Interestingly, the company holds an employee base of 30,000 people, and over 90 percent of them are women. The company is run by Ramasamy along with his two brothers.

The KPR Mill is situated in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. The company produces cotton yarn, polyester yarn, and knitted apparel. Ethanol and sugar are also the products manufactured by the company.

Not many people know that a garment factory by KPR was also there in Ethiopia. However, the company had to shut down because of civil unrest.

The KPR Mill produces 128 million garments on an annual basis, ranging from sleepwear to sportswear, and these apparel make up the stores of Marks & Spencer, Walmart, and H&M, according to the website of Forbes.

K.P Ramasamy is an appa (father) to his employees

The story began when Chairman K.P Ramasamy was asked by a young mill worker in the late 90s to help her finish her education. This reminded K.P Ramasamy of the void of not being able to finish his own education in his life. The man could study only up to high school and is a college dropout, as his father, a farmer by profession, could not afford to provide complete education to all his four sons.

When the worker in his company urged him to help her complete her education, the man discussed the issue with his brothers and the management of the company, with a desire to help her out. In order to help not only her but all the workers of the factory complete their education, a correspondence program was provided to over 50 women workers of the company at the mill. The result? The workers passed the +2 exams with immense dedication and enjoyed the fruits of their labor.

This made K.P. Ramasamy called affectionately as appa (father) by his employees. In an interview, the Chairman recalled the incident and expressed how the group resolved to continue this every year.

At present, over 27,000 women have successfully finished their education through this resolve. Some of these women have also completed their MBA degrees while working at the KPR Mill situated at Tirupur and Coimbatore. Not to miss, some of these women have become nurses as well, while some others have landed in IT firms. Many, however, have also returned to work at KPR Mill.

KPR Mill headed by K.P. Ramasamy has never disappointed its employees.

How did the company survive the pandemic?

During the tough times of the pandemic as well, K.P. Ramasamy abided by his mantra to keep employees happy. In the year 2020 when the pan India lockdown disturbed industries across the country, forcing them to send away their laborers, KPR Mill provided its employees with a choice. The choice said that in case they choose to stay, the Mill will be providing them with shelter, food, entertainment, and a full salary. They have 12 factories and all of them have sports facilities, a cinema hall, and an auditorium. In such a situation, all their employees chose to stay in KPR only.  The company at present has over 25,000 employees.

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