To V.O. Chidambaram Pillai goes the credit of launching, as the first Indian, a Steam Navigation Company that ran a service between Tuticorin and Colombo. He did it in the interests of the nation's economy, and of course, against the British rule.
V.O. Chidambaram Pillai came out of the Congress in 1920.
He was born on September 5, 1872 in Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu. He had his education in Tuticorin and took a Degree in Law form Madras.