MR. KOCHOUSEPH CHITTILAPPILLY

Chairman Emeritus

Mr. Kochouseph Chittilappilly was born in 1950 in Thrissur District, Kerala into a family which was traditionally engaged in agriculture. He holds a Master’s Degree in Physics and began his career as a Supervisor in an electronics company. A multifaceted individual, Mr. Kochouseph Chittilappilly has been spearheading the V-Guard Group from its inception.

At the age of 27, the industrialist in him took shape with a borrowed capital of Rs. 100,000 from his father to set up a small manufacturing facility for stabilizers. He had two workers to assist. Sensing the need for a reliable and quality product with a good after sales backup, he set about manufacturing the V-Guard brand of stabilizers. Quality and reliability was the key focus and armed with an effective marketing strategy. Today V-Guard is a listed company with BSE and NSE having various electrical, electronic and electro-mechanical products which apart from others include electric and solar water heaters, cables and wires, Domestic and Agricultural Pumps, Inverters, Fans, Induction Cooktop, Mixer Grinder and so forth and a turnover racing past Rs. 1700 crores.

Having set the company on wheels he toyed with the idea of diversification and a completely new course- a water theme park. Delivering on the quality of the rides, meeting international safety standards were all a daunting task but he decided to take it on with a firm self-belief. In the year 2000, he started an amusement park in the name ‘Veega Land’, (now Wonderla – Cochin) which has become one of the most attractive destinations in Kerala. The success story of ‘Veega Land’ made him to venture another amusement park, ‘Wonderla’, in Bangalore, which is the biggest amusement park in India. The success of the parks has resulted in two more new parks getting formalized near Chennai and Hyderabad.

He is also a humanitarian par excellence. Ailing patients battling with kidney disease, the agony they go through, and the difficulty in finding a donor set Mr. Kochouseph Chittilappilly thinking on a different path, many would have never ventured upon. He decided to donate one of his kidney’s to a poor and needy truck driver whom he had never met before. Along with a charitable institution based in Kerala, The Kidney Federation of India, formed a kidney chain – the first of its kind in India, wherein Mr. Kochouseph Chittilappilly started this chain by donating one of his kidneys to the needy truck driver and one close relative of the recipient will donate his/her kidney and the next recipient’s relative would donate further thereby carrying forward this unique kidney chain.

Mr. Kochouseph Chittilappilly used to jot down inspirational thoughts over the years. This was then authored into a book called Practical Wisdom-1, a practical management guide that would come in handy to budding entrepreneurs, managers and management students alike. Due to popular demand it was also translated into Malayalam.The second edition Practical Wisdom-2 was also launched recently. He has also compiled a collection of his childhood memories in a book called “Ormakillivathil”. The experience of donating a kidney is also taking shape in the form of another book, “The Gift.”

Mr. Kochouseph Chittilappilly is the recipient of numerous awards, which were bestowed on him for his exemplary performance in business and philanthropical work. Among others was the Samman Pathra Award for top income tax payer from Honourable Union Minister of State for Finance.