Gopinath Pillai

Pillai was born in Singapore to K. S. Pillai, a journalist who ran a daily, Kerala Bandhu, known to be the only Malayalam language daily published outside India.[2] He 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.[2] Afterwards, with the closure of the daily, his family finances dwindled and Pillai opted for government-funded education.[2] His graduate studies were at the University of Malaya, where he obtain a B.A. in 1961 and was a member of the Socialist Club.[4][5]

Pillai's career started as a journalist with Reuters[4][6] but had to abandon the job to fulfil his commitment to the government to work as a teacher, a prerequisite for availing government funding for education in Singapore.[2] Later, he joined Bangkok Bank[4] as an Economic Research Officer and also worked as a correspondent for the Far Eastern Economic Review.[2] He worked with the bank for five years and moved to Malaysian Industrial Development Finance Bhd as an economist, during which time Singapore became a separate country in 1965.[4] He stayed in Malaysia until 1969, when he returned to Singapore with his family to take up an appointment as the head of a government-run textile factory.[2] Later, he worked at United Industrial Corporation and then the State Trading Corporation[2] for around 10 years in total.[5][7]

Pillai attends conferences and seminars and delivers keynote addresses.[1][6][8] He has authored two books, The History of Banking in Thailand[4][6] and The Political Economy of South Asian Diaspora: Patterns of Socio-Economic Influence.[9]

Pillai is the first chairman of NTUC FairPrice when it was launched in 1983, a post he held until 1993.[4] He remains as a Trustee of NTUC FairPrice.[10] Pillai's diplomatic career started with his assignment with the Parliamentary Committee on Defence and Foreign Affairs in the 1980s.[4] In 1990, he was appointed as Singapore's non-resident Ambassador to Iran, a post he held until 2008.[4][11] Later, he served as Singapore's High Commissioner to Pakistan.[2][4] Pillai is an incumbent Ambassador-at-Large at Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.[2][4][8][12]

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.[2][10] The company has since been rebranded as KSP Investments Private Limited, and serves as the holding company for Pillai's business investments.[2] He is reported to have invested in a number of businesses and holds positions in many of them. He is the executive chairman of Savant Infocomm, an IT company,[4][5][10] Playware Studios Pte Ltd [13][14][15] and holds the chairmanship of companies such as Windmill International Private Limited[10][16] and Gateway Distriparks Limited and one of its subsidiaries, Snowman Logistics Limited.[2][5][10] He is the director of another Gateway Distriparks subsidiary, Gateway Rail Freight Limited[2] and JTC Consultancy Services (Holdings) Private Limited.[5] He is also the director of AEC Edu Group Private Limited[17] and holds directorship of two of its subsidiaries, AEC College and AEC Education Plc.[5][12]

Pillai is the chairman of the Management Board of the Institute of South Asian Studies,[4][8][10][12][12][18] a National University of Singapore-funded research institute.[19] He also holds the post of the deputy chairman of Ang Mo Kio-Thye Hua Kwan Hospital[4][6][8] a healthcare centre in Singapore for rehabilitative care.[20]

Pillai, a recipient of the Meritorious Award and Friend of Labour Award from National Trades Union Congress (NTUC)[5][10] and Distinguished Alumni Award from the National University of Singapore, received the MCD Award from the Ministry of Community Development and Sports in 1998.[4][5][10] In 1999, he received the Public Service Star Award.[4][5][10][12] Singapore Computer Society conferred on him the Friend of IT Award in 2001[5][10] and the Singaporean government honoured Pillai, in 2009, with the National Day Award.[4] The Indian government included him in the Republic Day honours list in 2012 for the civilian honour of Padma Shri.[3][4][12]

Pillai is married and the couple have four children.[4]

• Pillai, Gopinath (October 2013). The Political Economy of South Asian Diaspora: Patterns of Socio-Economic Influence. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 9781137285966.

• "Civil Investiture Ceremony – Padma Shri". Video. YouTube. 4 April 2012. Retrieved 1 December 2014.
• "Interview on India Info Line". India Info. 21 August 2014. Retrieved 12 December 2014.
• "SADC 2013 (Day 1) : Welcome Address by Ambassador Gopinath Pillai". YouTube video. ISAS Conferences. 29 May 2014. Retrieved 12 December 2014.
• "An Interview with Ambassador Gopinath Pillai". YouTube video. Diaspora 2013 Channel. 3 April 2012. Retrieved 12 December 2014.