Kochouseph Thomas Chittilappilly 

is an Indian business magnate, writer,[1] investor and

philanthropist.[2]
He is the founder,[3] Chairman and Chief Executive Officer[4] of V-Guard Industries Ltd[5] and a
chain of amusement parks called Wonderla.[6] K. Chittilappilly Foundation, a non profit
organization founded by him is engaged in charitable and philanthropic activities.[7] Chittilappilly is
a recipient of the Rashtriya Samman award from the Government of India for being among the
highest taxpayers[8] and the Newsmaker of the Year 2011 award from Malayala Manorama.[9] As
the chairman of the Stray Dog Free movement, he has advocated for government action to
address the "menace" of stray dogs in his home state of Kerala, and has criticized legislation
forbidding the killing of stray dogs.[10]Currently, he is a part of the Twenty20 party and serves as
an advisory member.

Biography[edit]

Kochouseph Chittilappilly was born to C. O. Thomas in Parappur, a suburb of Thrissur in the south
Indian state of Kerala in 1950.[11] His early schooling was at the local church school after which he
graduated from Christ College, Irinjalakuda and followed it with a master's degree in Physics from St.
Thomas College, Thrissur in 1970.[11] His career kickstarted in 1973 at Telics,
a Thiruvananthapuram based electronics company manufacturing voltage stabilizers and emergency
lamps, in the capacity of a supervisor where he worked for three years. [3]

In 1977, he founded V-Guard Industries, a small electronics manufacturing unit for the production of
voltage stabilizers with a capital of ₹100,000.[2] The company which had 2 employees at its modest
manufacturing facility in Thrissur at inception, grew over the years to become the largest selling
stabilizer brand in India.[12] The company claims to have 500 distributors, 3000 dealers, 20,000
retailers and a network of service centers across India [13] supporting a product range composed of
Pumps and Motors, Electric and Solar Water Heaters, Wiring Cables, UPS, and Ceiling Fans. [11] The
company has an Indian market share of 20 percent in UPS segment, 15 percent in pumps, 12 percent
in water heaters and 7 percent in wiring cables segments. [12]

Chittilapilly is reported to have introduced a new business model by total product outsourcing
coupled with in-house quality control when his factories were shut down following a workers' strike
in the 1980s.[2] Later, diversifying the business, he started the first water theme park in the state of
Kerala under the name, Veegaland, in 2000.[11] Another park on a larger scale, Wonderla, was
subsequently started in Bengaluru.[11] Veegaland has since been renamed as Wonderla Kochi, in an
effort to establish the name as a brand. [14][15] Veegaland Developers is another venture by
Kochouseph Chittillappilly that is in to construction of ready to occupy flats and apartments in
Cochin

Chittilapilly is married to Sheila and the couple has two sons Arun Chittilappilly and Mithun
Chittilappilly. Sheila is the Managing Director of V-Star Creations, a group company. Arun heads the
amusement park business, Wonderla and Mithun is the incumbent Managing Director of V-Guard
Industries.[2]