Tamil Nadu Timeline

IndustryMadras State (Congress era)

Ashok Motors (later Ashok Leyland) founded in Madras

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Ashok Motors (later Ashok Leyland) founded in Madras
Ask27, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Raghunandan Saran founded Ashok Motors in Madras to assemble cars; it became Ashok Leyland in 1955.

Ashok Motors was incorporated in 1948 by Raghunandan Saran to assemble and manufacture Austin cars, and was named after his son Ashok. In 1954 the Government of India approved the manufacture of Leyland Comet trucks and Tiger Cub buses, and the company was renamed Ashok Leyland in 1955 after a collaboration with British Leyland. Headquartered in Madras, it grew into one of India's largest makers of commercial vehicles. It was an early cornerstone of the automobile industry around the city.

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