Service to Humanity is service to God

Shri P. Subramanian was the Founder Promoter of Shanthi Gears Ltd, a leading Gear Manufacturer located in Coimbatore, Tamilnadu. He is fondly remembered as the “Gear-man of Coimbatore” for developing this industry from scratch to a successful gear company, recognised worldwide. Despite his illustrious work in the industry and social service sector, he shunned publicity and always maintained a low profile.

Born on November 11th, 1942 to an agricultural family, Shri P. Subramanian, was a first-generation industrialist. He completed his Diploma in LME in Mechanical Engineering in 1963 and a Post Diploma in Production Engineering in 1966, at PSG Polytechnic, Coimbatore and worked as a teaching staff at the same institute. His spirit of entrepreneurship and technical acumen drove him to set up his own enterprise in gear manufacturing in 1968 in a small rented shed without any capital and in 1969, Shanthi Engineering & Trading Co. was established.

In the early stages of the company, Shri P. Subramanian, being a technocrat, designed & built a Gear hobbing machine all by himself to meet his manufacturing expectations. In the year 1972, Shanthi Gear Products Private Ltd was incorporated and the company mainly focussed on textile gears. Later on during 1980/81, other products like Worm & Helical Reduction gear boxes were also introduced. As the company grew, in the year 1986, it was converted into a Public Limited company and was listed in the Indian Stock exchanges. The product range grew and Geared motors, Customised Industrial Gears & Gear boxes were also manufactured. State-of-the-art machineries were imported to deliver the highest quality products to the clients. The company also obtained ISO 9001 & AS9100C certification. This along with prompt delivery and after sales service made Shanthi Gears a reliable player in the Gear Industry across the world. Under his leadership, the customer base grew to include a wide range of industries such as Aerospace, Steel, Defence, Windmills, Power, Railways, Cement, Textiles, Sugars and OEMs. His continued passion, hard-work and dedication, saw to the steady development of the company making it a leader in its market.

Coming from a poor economic background, he always believed in giving back to the society. From the early 1980’s, he supported the education of under privileged children in Government schools, built classrooms and provided scholarships. From 1987, he also focused on rural development by clearing & widening roads, laying new roads, constructing bridges, etc., Later on, he founded Shanthi Social Services, a Registered Public Charitable Trust in the year 1996, to commemorate the memory of his beloved wife Mrs Shanthi, in the best and befitting manner by providing education, rural development, medical care, food, help & assistance to the needy poor and deserving public without any distinction to caste, creed, race or religion.

In 2012, as he turned 70, he decided to retire from the corporate world and shifted his complete focus towards the development of the Trust. The major sale proceeds received from the sale of Shanthi Gears Ltd, was transferred to the Trust to provide quality services at subsidized prices in various social spheres. Around 25,000 people, on a daily basis, are directly availing services from the Trust in various fields like Education, Medical, Pharmacy, Optical, Petrol Bunk and Canteen.

In recognition of his impact on the Gear industry and for his philanthropic efforts, he was posthumously honoured with the ‘Padma Shri’ award in January 2021 by the Government of India.

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