V. Kailasapillai - Tribute:

'Manitha Neyar' cum Financial Wizard

Kandiah Neelakandan General Secretary - All Ceylon Hindu Congress

V. Kailasapillai was born on March 31, 1934 at Araly South in Jaffna District to a Hindu conservative family. He was one of the two children - both sons - of Kanapathiar Viswanathar and his wife Parvathiar. He lost his father at a tender age of four. He and his brother Dr. V. Ambalavanar who is a well-known economist and was always in public service ending up as Adviser on Economic Affairs and an Additional Secretary to the President were brought up by their mother with the assistance of their granduncle Sellappah, who is gratefully remembered by Kailasapillai forever.

Financial assistance

Kailasapillai's family was one of the five families who gave substantial financial assistance to build All Ceylon Hindu Congress Headquarters (ACHC HQ). When we wanted to honour his family he requested us to honour his uncle Sellappah whose portrait has been unveiled at ACHC HQ.

Having attended Araly Saraswathie Vidyalayam in the village of Araly for the first years of primary education, he was admitted to Jaffna Hindu College which is one of the well-known premier Tamil Hindu educational institutions in this country. Kailasapillai excelled in his studies and entered the then University of Ceylon and he graduated from Colombo Campus as a Bachelor of Science specializing in Mathematics with honours.

Kailsapillai who is well-known as 'Kailas' and also as 'John Kailas' to the business community of this country was a financial wizard from his young days and naturally for the maths genius his chosen profession was Accountancy.

Accountancy profession

Having been an internee at the then leading Chartered Accountancy Firm, of Satchithananda, Schokman and Wijeratne, Kailas was the obvious choice for Lander Prize which is awarded to the best student who excels in the final examination for the Chartered Accountants conducted by the Institute of Chartered Accountants.

He began at the bottom of the ladder and raised himself by degrees to the most exalted position in the accountancy profession by unremitting attention to his work and by his uncompromising commitment to the high ideals of his profession.

Having been a member of the Council of Examiners of the Institute he has held various posts in the Institute of Chartered Accountants ending up as its Vice-President.

Having worked in Mercantile Credit Limited for a short while as an Accountant he spent some time at Colombo Commercial Company Limited in the same capacity.

Thereafter he joined John Keells Limited where he came to be identified so closely with that Group. His friends used to call him 'John Kailas'. John Kailas created history in John Keells and made it a leading conglomerate. Having risen to be one of the Directors of the Group and ultimately retired as the Group Deputy Chairman of the John Keells Group.

Kailasapillai as the Finance Director of John Keels Group helped by his financial wizardry for John Keells to rise as a leading conglomerate. As recorded in 'Legacy' (the John Keells commemorative publication) - "...........important influence on the diversification program was V. Kailasapillai. The Finance Director showed himself to be an expert at capitalizing on incentives and concessions offered by the government to promote the development of specific industries and business sectors.

Shareholders

He was even more adept at identifying ways to reduce the tax burden on the group and its shareholders by taking advantage of official tax breaks and shelters.

These talents were useful enough in the days of the United Front, but when that regime was replaced by an enterprise-friendly government eager to use the private sector as an instrument of growth, Kailasapillai was in his element. In the report quoted above, Mark Bostock notes that 'the investment policy of the Company has enabled shareholders to receive a fair slice of their return free of tax'.

They did so thanks to the financial wizardry of V. Kailaspillai." Though Kailasapillai is a strict vegetarian and teetotaler throughout his life I am told that he had to keep a beer mug on his table only as a showpiece just because he was a Director of John Keells.

It is a well-known 'secret' that he declined to be the Chairman of the Group because he felt that he could not throw parties or cocktails, for the reason that to Kailas, principles were more important than glory as the Group Chairman.

His success as a business leader is attributable to his characteristics as a typical industrious Jaffna man. When he was asked of success he said sternly:

Profits

"It won't just fall on your lap, you have to work hard, sweat for it". Then he added with a mischievously innocent smile, 'And of course, you have to take risks'. With tea and tourism in regress, most of Keells' income in the late eighties was derived from Keels Food Products and the other businesses into which the group continued to diversify. Turnover and profits continued to rise year on year, as much a tribute to V. Kailasapillai's financial skills as to the slowly improving business climate.

Kailasapillai and their colleagues, having discovered the capital-conjuring magic of the stock market relatively early, were determined to make the group and its holding company as investor-friendly as possible.

"Trade in company shares was modest at the beginning of the Eighties. Relatively few companies were publicly quoted and there was little investment capital available.

The share market was the preserve of a handful of wealthy, knowledgeable investors....." However, Kailasapillai in his own unique style had John Keells Holdings Limited ('JKH') listed on Colombo Stock Exchange on October 9 , 1986. Of course, JKH has been dominating Colombo Stock Market since then.

Of course, although I do not have personal knowledge of his role in that sphere, the historical records and the Business Leaders still recall his achievements in John Keells and Colombo Stock Exchange which he has once led.

Colombo Stock Exchange

Of course, if he feels that he should not remain any more no one can stop him stepping down. In 1993, he resigned from the Chairmanship of the Colombo Stock Exchange.

News was flashed 'Kailasapillai's resignation rocks Colombo Stock Market'. His colleagues wanted to persuade him but he had flown to Malaysia. I can guess that he would have gone to meet his Guru Swami Shanthananda Saraswathi (Head of Siva Family) whose guidance and blessing were his strength.

In 1983 also he did that -of course, through Singapore. I would like to quote from what Richard Simon has written in the 'Legacy':

"Tamils have traditionally seen education as a way out of relative poverty and routine discrimination. John Keells' financial genius, Viswanathan Kailasapillai, is only one of hundreds of thousands of intelligent, industrious Tamils who have successfully travelled that route. ...........

"....The most senior victim at Keels was the Finance Director himself. V. Kailasapillai's home was destroyed. While his family sought refuge with relatives, he himself was smuggled into Keel Hall by David Blackler. He remained there, in hiding, for three days. The experience was so traumatic that Kailasapillai vowed to leave Sri Lanka forever. When a semblance of normality had returned to operations at Katunayake Airport, he, his wife and another relative whose father had been murdered by the rioters were driven to the airport by David and Jennifer Blackler in separate cars.

Rioters

There was anarchy on the streets that day: the mobs were stopping motorists and assaulting those they reckoned were Tamil. "'There was all kinds of trouble going on", says Blackler laconically,"I told Jennifer, if we're stopped on the road and I put my flashers on, just do a U-turn and scramble." But the rioters were not interested in vehicles driven by Europeans; the little convoy got through, and Kailasapillai caught his flight to Singapore without an incident. He would later change his mind and return to Sri Lanka with his family.

His family background and education in Jaffna Hindu College naturally made him an active religious worker. He was almost involved in every Hindu religious institution in Colombo and he has held various offices in those institutions and in particular as the President of Colombo Vivekananda Society of which he is now a patron. In the late eighties when V. Balasubramaniam was the President of All Ceylon Hindu Congress (the Federation of Hindu Religious Associations and Trusts in Sri Lanka) he persuaded Kailasapillai to be the Deputy President of All Ceylon Hindu Congress.

Kailasapillai's 75th birthday was on March 31, 2009. It is an interesting coincidence that the birthday of this financial wizard is "the balance sheet date" within the meaning of the new Companies Act. He has declined to be invited to any felicitation. However, at a book release on March 29, 2009, he was conferred with the title 'MANITHANEYAKA' (meaning 'a human being who loves and works for the others') by the Chief Prelate of Nalluar Aatheenam, Jaffna