The GMT was founded by PV (P.Venkat Raman) in 1959 He had two objectives. While he pursued a personal childhood dream to be an engineer and "own machines", the broader vision was to start a business in a remote village and propel it into prosperity.
Pallikaranai was a tiny hamlet forgotten by the world,
across the Pallikaranai Marsh from Velacherry.
This is the only photo available
of the site of the company when it was built in 1966. A few wretched peasants
eked out a living from paddy fields which stretched for miles around and to the
visible horizon in front of the site. There was an "ERI" (a small lake) behind and
another one to the right of the factory. At dawn and dusk herds of emaciated
buffaloes crossed the winding dirt track which lead from Velacherry to
Pallikaranai across the Marsh. During the monsoon, parts of the track were
submerged in the Marsh and water snakes would often cross it.
Once GMT was built,
young local boys were employed, electricity and telephone lines came to
the village, George set up his tea shop .... He flourished and grew sustaining
GMT's employees As it grew and started
employing people from across the marsh, bus services were started by the then
PTC at the company's request in 1972
PV succeeded in his dream in large measure
