Known more as the Chennai’s Book Man, Padhmanabhan started his career working with a book store called International Book House. He was also the founder of the East West Books and the Madras Book Club, and was deeply connected with the publishing of Indian Review of Books (IRB) journal. 

Several book lovers still loath the day they read the last issue of the IRB in 2001 with an editorial headlined – End of a dream. Shashi Tharoor, in fact, mentions the sad day in his book titled, Bookless in Baghdad: Reflections on writing and writers (published by Arcade Publishing), where he says “India’s best literary journal had finally been defeated by the hard mathematics of the market.”

His venture to books was something that many believe as the compulsion of destiny. After completing his college in Bangalore (now Bengaluru), Padhmanabhan shifted his base to Mumbai after acquiring a job in a bookshop called International Book House. This was followed with an 18 months tryst with the automobile industry in Kolkata. Later in 1975, he came down to Chennai to establish his own venture named Manas.

He soon started a publishing house called East West Books, which was later merged with Landmark for establishing Westland. Later, Tata Group acquired both Landmark and Westland. He retired from the post of managing director of Westland in 2011.