https://indianpedia.org/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=A._V._ThomasA. V. Thomas - Revision history2026-07-31T22:51:26ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.45.4https://indianpedia.org/index.php?title=A._V._Thomas&diff=272182&oldid=prev->AnomieBOT at 23:02, 9 January 20222022-01-09T23:02:05Z<p></p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{Short description|Indian businessman and politician}}<br />
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[[File:1946_UPASI.jpg|thumb|A. V. Thomas (sitting 10th from left) at a UPASI meeting in 1946]]<br />
'''Alfred Vedam Thomas''' (9 August 1891 – 12 May 1968) was an Indian businessman and politician, and a [[Member of the Legislative Assembly (India)|Member of the Legislative Assembly]].<br />
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A child of Abraham Moses, A. V. Thomas was born in Thirulmalnagar, Alagapappuram on 9 August 1891 and educated in [[Idaiyangudi]] and [[Sawyerpuram]]. He married Sugirtham in 1921 and with her had a son and three daughters.<ref name="ww">{{cite book |title=Parliament of India: Lok Sabha : Who's Who |year=1956 |edition=2nd |publisher=Lok Sabha Secretariat |pages=[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.96714/page/n421 379]–380 |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.96714}}</ref> He was a Christian from the [[Nadar (caste)|Nadar]] [[Caste system in India|caste]].<ref>{{cite book |title=The Nadars of Tamilnad: The Political Culture of a Community in Change |first=Robert L. |last=Hardgrave |publisher=University of California Press |year=1969 |page=[https://archive.org/details/nadarsoftamilnad0000hard/page/208 208] |url=https://archive.org/details/nadarsoftamilnad0000hard|url-access=registration }}</ref> '''Alfred Vedam Thomas''' also had a brother '''A.G.S Ratnaraj.'''<br />
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Thomas was a labour contractor who became a plantation owner and founded the AVT Group in 1925.<ref name="Damodaran">{{cite book |last=Damodaran |first=Harish |year=2008 |chapter=Nadars and Ezhavas |title=India's New Capitalists |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WJp_DAAAQBAJ&pg=PA181 |isbn=978-1-349-30173-7 |pages=181, 190, 193}}</ref>{{efn|In 2008, the AVT Group held around {{convert|4500|ha|acre}} of land on which it cultivated cardamom, coffee, rubber, spices and tea. It also had interests in agro-chemicals, bio-technology, leather, shipping and warehousing.<ref name="Damodaran"/>}} He was President of [[Alleppy|Alleppey]] Municipal Council between 1937 and 1940, chairman of the Indian Rubber Board between 1947 and 1949, and again from 1950 until at least 1951. He also served on a [[Royal Commission]] during World War II.<ref name="ww"/><br />
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Thomas was elected to the [[Tamil Nadu legislative assembly]] as an [[Indian National Congress]] (INC) candidate from [[Radhapuram (State Assembly Constituency)|Radhapuram constituency]] in the [[1957 Tamil Nadu state assembly election|1957 election]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://eci.nic.in/eci_main/StatisticalReports/SE_1957/StatRep_Madras_1957.pdf |title=1957 Madras State Election Results, Election Commission of India |access-date=21 November 2009 |archive-date=4 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304122651/http://eci.nic.in/eci_main/StatisticalReports/SE_1957/StatRep_Madras_1957.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> He had previously been a [[Parliament of India|Member of Parliament]] elected to the [[Lok Sabha]] from Srivaikuntam constituency, [[Tamil Nadu]], as an INC candidate in the [[Indian general election in Tamil Nadu, 1951|1951]] election.<ref>[http://eci.nic.in/eci_main/StatisticalReports/LS_1951/VOL_1_51_LS.PDF Volume I, 1951 Indian general election, 1st Lok Sabha]</ref><br />
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Thomas died on 12 May 1968.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/Jeysingh-Thomas-passes-away/article16887351.ece |work=The Hindu |title=Jeysingh Thomas passes away |date=19 October 2009 |accessdate=2017-09-22}}</ref><br />
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== Business ==<br />
'''A.V. Thomas''' was the founding owner of leading family-owned business group in [[South India]], The A.V.T. Group of companies that is based in Chennai. The business began through its plantation company that bought a 100 hectares of land in [[Pasuppara]], [[Idukki district]] of [[Kerala]] and converted the same into a tea plantation. Thus Mr. Thomas became the first Indian to own a plantation company.<ref>{{Cite web|title=About us - AVT group {{!}} AVT|url=http://www.avtgroup.in/our-history.html|website=www.avtgroup.in|access-date=2020-05-20}}</ref> The group later diversified into other areas of plantation such as rubber mainly in hilly regions of Kerala and set up its iconic AVT brand of tea in the market. In Kerala, the main business center for the group was [[Alappuzha]].{{fact|date=January 2022}}<br />
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Beyond its plantation arm all the major business verticals of the company is today based in [[Egmore]], [[Chennai]]. '''Mr. Jeysingh Thomas''' became the chairman of A.V.Thomas group in 1968 after A.V.Thomas's death. Today the group is managed by Mr.Ajit Thomas (son of Jeysingh Thomas}. The group is involved in diverse businesses, including tea, coffee, rubber, spices, leather goods, food ingredients and natural extracts, treated rubber wood, shipping and warehousing, plant biotechnology, investments, etc. In 1986, AVT Group started the first commercial plant tissue culture laboratory in India.<ref>{{Citation|last=Mascarenhas|first=A. F.|title=Scope of the Tissue Culture Industry in India|date=1999|work=Plant Biotechnology and In Vitro Biology in the 21st Century: Proceedings of the IXth International Congress of the International Association of Plant Tissue Culture and Biotechnology Jerusalem, Israel, 14–19 June 1998|pages=713–720|editor-last=Altman|editor-first=Arie|series=Current Plant Science and Biotechnology in Agriculture|volume=36|publisher=Springer Netherlands|language=en|doi=10.1007/978-94-011-4661-6_160|isbn=978-94-011-4661-6|editor2-last=Ziv|editor2-first=Meira|editor3-last=Izhar|editor3-first=Shamay}}</ref><br />
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== References ==<br />
'''Notes'''<br />
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'''Citations'''<br />
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, A. V.}}<br />
[[Category:1891 births]]<br />
[[Category:Indian National Congress politicians from Tamil Nadu]]<br />
[[Category:1968 deaths]]<br />
[[Category:20th-century Indian businesspeople]]<br />
[[Category:Lok Sabha members from Tamil Nadu]]<br />
[[Category:1st Lok Sabha members]]<br />
[[Category:Members of the 2nd Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly]]<br />
[[Category:Indian Christians]]<br />
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