Gopinath Pillai was born on 1937 and is a Singaporean diplomat and businessman who served as an ambassador-at-large at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
20 Facts About Gopinath Pillai
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In 2012, Pillai was conferred the Padma Shri by the Indian government, the fourth highest Indian civilian award.
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Gopinath Pillai 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.
4.
Gopinath Pillai graduated from the University of Malaya with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1961 and was a member of the Socialist Club.
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Gopinath Pillai subsequently joined Bangkok Bank as an Economic Research Officer and worked as a correspondent for the Far Eastern Economic Review.
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Gopinath Pillai 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.
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Gopinath Pillai 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.
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Gopinath Pillai later worked at United Industrial Corporation and then the State Trading Corporation for around 10 years in total.
9.
Gopinath Pillai has authored two books, The History of Banking in Thailand and The Political Economy of South Asian Diaspora: Patterns of Socio-Economic Influence in 2013.
10.
Gopinath Pillai served the first chairman of NTUC FairPrice after its establishment in 1983, a position he held until 1993.
11.
Gopinath 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.
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Gopinath Pillai has since been rebranded as KSP Investments Private Limited, and serves as the holding company for Pillai's business investments.
13.
Gopinath Pillai is reported to have invested in a number of businesses and holds positions in many of them.
14.
Gopinath Pillai is the executive chairman of Savant Infocomm, an IT company, Playware Studios Pte Ltd and holds the chairmanship of companies such as Windmill International Private Limited and Gateway Distriparks Limited and one of its subsidiaries, Snowman Logistics Limited.
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Gopinath Pillai is the director of another Gateway Distriparks subsidiary, Gateway Rail Freight Limited and JTC Consultancy Services Private Limited.
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Gopinath Pillai is the director of AEC Edu Group Private Limited and holds directorship of two of its subsidiaries, AEC College and AEC Education Plc.
17.
Gopinath Pillai is the chairman of the Management Board of the Institute of South Asian Studies, a National University of Singapore-funded research institute.
18.
Gopinath Pillai holds the post of the deputy chairman of Ang Mo Kio-Thye Hua Kwan Hospital a healthcare centre in Singapore for rehabilitative care.
19.
Gopinath Pillai later served as Singapore's High Commissioner to Pakistan.
20.
Gopinath Pillai is a former Ambassador-at-Large at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.