The Hidden R&D Giants of Tamil Nadu

It started with my daughter’s sleep.

During winter nights, she wants the fan at full speed when she falls asleep. But by 1-2 AM, she feels cold and asks us to reduce it. With just one regulator in the bedroom, someone has to get up every time. After weeks of interrupted sleep, we decided the solution was simple - buy a fan with a remote.

The BLDC Revolution

A quick search taught me that remote-controlled fans are typically BLDC (Brushless DC) motors - a technology I knew nothing about.

Unlike traditional brushed motors that use physical brushes to transfer current - creating friction, heat, and wear - BLDC motors use a permanent magnet rotor and electronic commutation.

The efficiency difference is significant. BLDC motors convert 85-90% of electrical energy into rotation, compared to 75-80% for brushed motors. No brushes means no friction, which means they last longer and consume less power.

The popular choice on Amazon was Atomberg. In our office in Karaikudi, we use their fans - they work well with UPS backup during power cuts. But before clicking “Buy Now,” I did what I always do - searched for alternatives.

Enter Superfan

I found Superfan, manufactured by a Coimbatore company called Versa Drives. The more I read, the more surprised I got.

Versa Drives isn’t some new startup riding the BLDC hype. They started in 1989 as Computer Controlls Corporation, designing embedded control systems for machines across automotive, textiles, and printing industries. They pivoted to motor control in 2004 and registered as Versa Drives Private Limited in 2010.

Today, they make motor drives for elevators, textile machinery, exercise equipment, electric vehicles, drones, and solar pump controllers. Murata Manufacturing of Japan took a stake in them in 2019 - not as charity, but as recognition of their technical capability.

Here’s what caught my attention: Versa Drives launched India’s first super-efficient ceiling fan in December 2012 - under the Superfan brand. Atomberg, today’s popular choice, wouldn’t launch their first BLDC fan until 2015 - three years later. Versa Drives didn’t just make fans; they worked closely with the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), and international organizations like CLASP to transform the entire fan industry in India.

Their fans have won international awards for innovation and energy savings. The voltage range tells the story of who they built this for: Superfan works from 90V to 300V, while Atomberg’s range is 165V to 285V. When your village’s voltage drops to 120V during peak summer, only one of these fans keeps spinning. They offer a 5-year warranty - twice what Atomberg provides. This is R&D built for actual Indian conditions - not just impressive specs, but products that solve real problems.

For someone buying from Karaikudi, this felt like the obvious choice. Local company, proven technology, better suited for our conditions. I bought it.

Yet Atomberg is the household name. The company that created the category and built it for actual Indian conditions stayed hidden. But buying the fan made something click.

The Same DNA

I’d come across Bull Machines months before I started shopping for fans. I’d watched an interview with their MD, Parthiban, on Nanayam Vikatan and then spent an hour on their website. They manufacture backhoe loaders - the machines with a front scoop and rear digging arm that dig foundations, load trucks, and trench cables at construction sites across India. They export to 65+ countries, with exports accounting for over half their revenue.

But Bull didn’t start here. In 1971, they began with something simpler - tractor attachments. Loaders and backhoes that attach to existing tractors. Decades of refining these attachments built the engineering depth they needed to make standalone machines that compete with global giants.

The numbers tell the story. A Bull SD76 costs ₹30-32 lakhs and delivers 75 HP. The JCB 3DX - India’s best-selling backhoe - costs ₹35-38 lakhs and delivers 49 HP. That’s 50% more power at a lower price point. This is what sustained R&D delivers to the people using these machines. Bull is now ranked second in India, fifth globally, and aims to be the world’s second-largest manufacturer by 2030.

But what stuck with me wasn’t the export numbers. It was the answer to how - how does a Coimbatore company compete with JCB, a global giant with decades of head start?

The answer is culture. Bull has something they call the “Bull Philosophy” - not corporate values printed on a wall, but statements like “Low aim is a crime” and “I believe in God and for everything else I demand data.” It’s a code that every employee lives by.

This isn’t corporate fluff. This is how you build machines that compete with JCB at a fraction of the cost. This is how a Coimbatore company ends up exporting to 65+ countries.

When I found Versa Drives while researching fans, I recognized the same DNA. Different product, same spirit. These are world-class engineering companies hiding in plain sight.

Buying this fan changed how I look at the phrase ‘Made in India.’ Usually, that label feels like a compromise - patriotism over performance. But Superfan wasn’t a compromise; it was an upgrade.

This isn’t an isolated incident. LMW in Coimbatore is one of three companies in the world making the full range of textile spinning machinery. Roots Industries spent 12 years on quality certification to compete with Hella and Lucas. SPEL Semiconductor in Chennai is India’s only IC assembly company, exporting to the US and Europe since 1984.

While the media focuses on quick-commerce startups delivering groceries in 10 minutes, a quieter, more dangerous kind of competence is building up in Tamil Nadu’s industrial corridors. And now, the political establishment is starting to notice.

Thank You for Your Kind Attention

When Union Home Minister Amit Shah announced he was switching to Zoho Mail, he signed off with: “Thank you for your kind attention to this matter.” I checked twice - surely this was a parody account. It wasn’t.

That’s Trump’s line. Word for word. The exact closing he uses on tariff announcements - those executive orders that have upended global trade. The polite hostility of trade war declarations.

Amit Shah, mirroring the protectionist’s own language to announce he’s switching to Indian tech. Whether intentional or not, the signal couldn’t be clearer: We are not scrambling for alternatives anymore. We have them.

This confidence doesn’t appear overnight. You can’t code a Gmail competitor the day sanctions hit. You can’t manufacture a world-class motor the day imports stop.

Zoho built feature after feature for twenty years - not chasing trends, but solving real problems for the businesses using their software. They hired engineers in rural Tamil Nadu, weathered the years when everyone assumed American tech was the only option. When the government finally wanted an Indian alternative, they weren’t scrambling. They were ready.

Tamil Nadu has a deep ecosystem of companies that made the same bet - Versa Drives with their motor technology since 1989, Bull Machines competing globally with their construction equipment. They invested in R&D when nobody was watching, built technical depth when it wasn’t fashionable.

The contingencies were put in place long ago. Now, when the world is rethinking supply chains and tech dependencies, these companies aren’t hoping for luck. They made their own.

The Quiet Future

Nobody gets up at 2 AM anymore. The fan is silent, efficient, and locally made.

Companies like Versa Drives and Zoho have been world-class for decades. The world is finally noticing.

The difference isn’t funding or marketing. It’s patience. Thirty years of showing up, improving the product, ignoring what’s fashionable. While the world celebrated billion-dollar unicorns, these companies built something that can’t be faked: technical depth that shows up in products people can actually use.

They stayed hidden because they never played the visibility game. The loudest companies get the headlines. The quiet ones get the future.

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