In 1967 Mr R.K. Raman founded MIL Industries Limited (MIL). The focus was on corrosion resistant rubber linings for core sector Fertilizer, Chemical, and Petrochemical industries, begun with French collaboration. The Company very quickly rose to market leadership in the country. A range of related industrial products were added, over the years, to their manufacture.
In 1987 the Fluoropolymer (PTFE) lining business, in collaboration with Fluorocarbon, UK, was introduced and managed by Mr Rajiv Sreedhar, son-in-law of Mr Raman, who from 1999 led MIL as Managing Director. Later, at the behest of the Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC) of the ISRO, certain critical high performance components for rocket engines were developed and manufactured as import substitutes by the Company for the space and aerospace industry.
In 2022 MIL Industries & Aerospace Limited (MILIA) was spun off (demerged) from MIL as an independent entity, comprising the Fluoropolymer lining and the Aerospace Products businesses.
R.K. Raman's lineage dates back a century to 1920. His grandfather, R. Seshasayee, founded Seshasayee Engineering Works, which pioneered the electrification of Trichy, Devakottai, and Srirangam at a time when in Tamil Nadu only Madras city had electric supply. The Trichy Srirangam Electric Supply Corp (1924), East Tanjore Electric Supply Corp (1933), and East Ramnad Electric Supply Corp (1937) were formed, later merging into South Madras Electric Supply Corp (SMESC). This company established the Power House in Trichy, which grew in capacity over the years, and led to long distance high-voltage transmission lines.
With his brother-in-law V. Seshasayee as partner, the companies grew to be pillars of South India's industrial base. As consultants and engineers, the Seshasayees enabled independent electric supply companies all over Southern India.
India's first and leading producer of bleaching powder, later adding caustic soda and liquid chlorine production. Incorporated in 1936 using technology from Europe, Japan and the US, MCICL grew to become a flagship company for the Seshasayees, managed under the leadership of K.K. Raman, R.K. Raman's father.
Founded in 1946 in Kerala, ALIND was the first large-scale manufacturer of aluminium conductors and cables, switchgear, material handling equipment, relays and control/relay panels, as well as turnkey electrification projects for railways. A second plant was commissioned in Hyderabad in 1964.
Established in 1946 to create a source of raw materials for the ammonia gasification synthesis plant of the Fertilizer and Chemicals Travancore (FACT). After studying ammonia sulphate plants across the USA, UK and Europe, and despite the challenges of the war years, V. Seshasayee and K.K. Raman commissioned FACT in 1947.
Founded in 1951, TCC had the distinction of being India's pioneering producer of rayon-grade caustic soda as well as chlorine and allied chemicals, serving as a feeder to FACT.
Established at Vadalur, Pondicherry in 1960 as an affiliate of Seshasayee Brothers (later Seshasayee Industries). A technical collaboration with a European manufacturer brought the licensed KERAMAG trademark, becoming NEYCER KERAMAG — enabling the company to become one of India's finest sanitaryware producers.
Established in 1960, managed by a team headed by K.K. Raman, with a board including stalwarts such as K.A. Vargis, R.V. Ramani and B.V.D. Menon.
Founded in 1961 in collaboration with Japan's KOKOKU Iron and Steel Wire Manufacturing Co. Ltd, world leaders in steel wire and wire rope, to manufacture steel wires complying with the toughest wire rope standards in the world. (A later venture, SIMCO Meters, was formed for metering electricity consumption.)
Several of the organisations they founded were later recognised as public utilities, attracting Government interest and investment; where taken over by the Government, Seshasayee Industries was retained as managing agents. Where companies remained private undertakings, Seshasayee Industries continued to retain them.