G. D. Naidu was an Indian inventor and engineer who is referred to as the “Edison of India” and “the wealth creator of Coimbatore”. He is credited with the manufacture of the first electric motor in India.
His contributions were primarily industrial but also spanned the fields of electrical, mechanical, agricultural and automobile engineering. Naidu developed an independently internal combustion four stroke engine. He dropped school in class 3,but excelled as a versatile genius.
He started his career as server in a hotel, turned as a mechanic. He began his transport business in 1920. . In a few years, his Universal Motor Service owned the most efficient fleet of public transport vehicles in the country. In 1937, the first motor to be produced in India was brought out from G. D. Naidu’s factory. During this period, he also invented a host of useful items, almost 100 gadgets, such as:

Refrigerator, Recorder, Radio, Clock
Shaving Blades which were super-thin
Distance Adjuster for Cameras
Fruit Juice Extractor
Tamper-proof vote-recording machine
Kerosene-run fan
Calculator, and many more utility items. In 1941, he made a farm at Podhanur, and eminent scientist of his time like Sir C. V. Raman and Visvesvaraya, among many others; visited his farm and praised his work.

He completed the construction of a house in just 11 hours, beginning with the laying of foundation at 6 am to completion by 5 pm evening.

He founded several companies in diversified industries, such as Universal Radiators Factory, UMS Radio Industry, Gopal Clock Industry, Coimbatore Armature Winding Works, Carbon manufacturing industry, Coimbatore Diesel products and Coimbatore Engineering Private Limited etc.
In 1946, he started G.D. Naidu Charities. He instituted many welfare schemes for his employees and the backward section of society.