Chettiar established a newspaper in 1930 and named it Virakesari, meaning "victorious lion". The first edition was published on 6 August 1930 in Colombo. He acted as the paper's editor-in-chief and guided the publication for over 20 years. After Ceylon obtained its independence from British dominance, the Parliament of Ceylon enacted the Ceylon Citizenship Act. Rather than taking up Ceylonese citizenship in order to continue running the business, Chettiar chose to return to India and sold his interests in Virakesari in 1965. Today, this newspaper is the most widely circulated and read newspaper by the entire Tamil speaking population in Sri Lanka.
