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Gopinath Pillai

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Gopinath Pillai
BBM
ഗോപിനാഥ് പിള്ള
Born1937 (age 86–87)
Singapore, Straits Settlements
Alma materUniversity of Malaya (BA)
Occupations
  • Diplomat
  • businessman
Children4
ParentK.S. Pillai (father)

Gopinath Pillai (born 1937) BBM is a Singaporean diplomat and businessman who served served as an ambassador-at-large at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.[1][2]

In 2012, Pillai was conferred the Padma Shri by the Indian government, the fourth highest Indian civilian award.[3]

Early life[edit]

Pillai was born in Singapore to K. S. Pillai, a journalist who ran a daily, Kerala Bandhu, known to be the only Malayalam language daily published outside India.[2] He spent eight years of his childhood in Kerala, India, where his family is from, as he could not return to Singapore due to the outbreak of World War II.[2] After the closure of the daily, his family finances dwindled and Pillai opted for a government-funded education.[2] He graduated from the University of Malaya with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1961 and was a member of the Socialist Club.[4][5]

Pillai started his career as a journalist with Reuters[4][6] but had to abandon the job to fulfil his commitment to the government to work as a teacher, a prerequisite for availing government funding for education in Singapore.[2] He subsequently joined Bangkok Bank[4] as an Economic Research Officer and worked as a correspondent for the Far Eastern Economic Review.[2] He worked at the bank for five years before moving to Malaysian Industrial Development Finance Bhd as an economist, during which Singapore had become a separate country in 1965.[4] He stayed in Malaysia until 1969, when he returned to Singapore with his family to take up an appointment as the head of a government-owned textile factory.[2] He later worked at United Industrial Corporation and then the State Trading Corporation[2] for around 10 years in total.[5][7]

Pillai attends conferences and seminars and delivers keynote addresses.[1][6][8] He has authored two books, The History of Banking in Thailand[4][6] and The Political Economy of South Asian Diaspora: Patterns of Socio-Economic Influence.[9]

Public career[edit]

Pillai served the first chairman of NTUC FairPrice after its establishment in 1983, a position he held until 1993.[4] He remains as a Trustee of NTUC FairPrice.[10]

Pillai's diplomatic career started with his assignment with the Government Parliamentary Committee on Defence and Foreign Affairs in the 1980s.[4] In 1990, he was appointed as Singapore's Non-Resident Ambassador to Iran, a post he held until 2008.[4][11] He later served as Singapore's High Commissioner to Pakistan.[2][4] Pillai is a former Ambassador-at-Large at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.[2][4][8][12][13]

Business career[edit]

Pillai launched KSP Group along with two of his friends, Sat Pal Khattar and Haider Sithawalla, and holds the post of a Director of the company.[2][10] The company has since been rebranded as KSP Investments Private Limited, and serves as the holding company for Pillai's business investments.[2] He is reported to have invested in a number of businesses and holds positions in many of them. He is the executive chairman of Savant Infocomm, an IT company,[4][5][10] Playware Studios Pte Ltd[14][15] and holds the chairmanship of companies such as Windmill International Private Limited[10][16] and Gateway Distriparks Limited and one of its subsidiaries, Snowman Logistics Limited.[2][5][10] He is the director of another Gateway Distriparks subsidiary, Gateway Rail Freight Limited[2] and JTC Consultancy Services (Holdings) Private Limited.[5] He is also the director of AEC Edu Group Private Limited[17] and holds directorship of two of its subsidiaries, AEC College and AEC Education Plc.[5][12]

Social career[edit]

Pillai is the chairman of the Management Board of the Institute of South Asian Studies,[4][8][10][12][18] a National University of Singapore-funded research institute.[19] He also holds the post of the deputy chairman of Ang Mo Kio-Thye Hua Kwan Hospital[4][6][8] a healthcare centre in Singapore for rehabilitative care.[20]

Awards and recognitions[edit]

Pillai, a recipient of the Meritorious Award and Friend of Labour Award from National Trades Union Congress (NTUC)[5][10] and Distinguished Alumni Award from the National University of Singapore, received the MCD Award from the Ministry of Community Development and Sports in 1998.[4][5][10] In 1999, he received the Public Service Star Award.[4][5][10][12] Singapore Computer Society conferred on him the Friend of IT Award in 2001[5][10] and the Singaporean government honoured Pillai, in 2009, with the National Day Award.[4] The Indian government included him in the Republic Day honours list in 2012 for the civilian honour of Padma Shri.[3][4][12] In August 2022, he was conferred the Darjah Utama Bakti Cemerlang (Distinguished Service Order) by the Singapore government.[21]

Personal life[edit]

Pillai is married and the couple have four children.[4]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b "Arabian Business". Arabian Business. 30 November 2013. Retrieved 12 December 2014.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j k l m n "Live Mint". Live Mint. 21 November 2013. Retrieved 12 December 2014.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b "Padma Shri" (PDF). Padma Shri. 2014. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 October 2015. Retrieved 11 November 2014.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r "South Asian Diaspora". South Asian Diaspora. 16 January 2013. Archived from the original on 19 December 2015. Retrieved 12 December 2014.
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j "Business Week". Business Week. 2014. Archived from the original on 12 December 2014. Retrieved 12 December 2014.
  6. ^ Jump up to: a b c d "LKY". LKY. 2014. Retrieved 12 December 2014.
  7. ^ "India Info". India Info. 21 August 2014. Retrieved 12 December 2014.
  8. ^ Jump up to: a b c d "Global Schools". Global Schools. 2014. Retrieved 12 December 2014.
  9. ^ Pillai, Gopinath (October 2013). The Political Economy of South Asian Diaspora: Patterns of Socio-Economic Influence. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 9781137285966.
  10. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j "Savant Bio". Savant. 2014. Retrieved 12 December 2014.
  11. ^ "Arabian Business". Arabian Business. 30 November 2013. Retrieved 12 December 2014.
  12. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e "Milken Institute". Milken Institute. 2014. Archived from the original on 15 December 2014. Retrieved 12 December 2014.
  13. ^ "Ministry of Foreign Affairs Singapore". Retrieved 20 July 2023.
  14. ^ Sek, Victoria (29 November 2017), This S'pore Game Company Created An Epic 3D Board Game That Raised $122k On Kickstarter, retrieved 17 March 2018
  15. ^ "Playware Studios Asia and UniSIM collaborate on games design". imda.gov.sg. Retrieved 17 March 2018.
  16. ^ "Eastcom". Eastcom. 2014. Retrieved 12 December 2014.
  17. ^ "Bloomberg". Bloomberg. 2014. Retrieved 12 December 2014.
  18. ^ "ISAS". ISAS. 2014. Archived from the original on 24 December 2012. Retrieved 12 December 2014.
  19. ^ "ISAS Home". ISAS. 2014. Archived from the original on 13 December 2014. Retrieved 12 December 2014.
  20. ^ "AMKH". AMKH. 2014. Retrieved 12 December 2014.
  21. ^ "National Day Awards 2022". Prime Minister's Office, Singapore. 9 August 2022.

Further reading[edit]

External links[edit]

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