He resumed his social activities in Trivandrum. He was on the executive of the All India Exhibition, Fair and Amusement Park in 1934 and all the annual Sree Chitra Exhibitions before and after. In fact, in all these exhibitions, he did the lay-out and gardening and designed the Ravanan Kotta. He then gradually began to correspond with well-known automobile manufacturing and other business firms in Germany and other European countries with a view to start his own business firm in Thiruvananthapuram. Pillai acquired the sole agency for the sale of Mercedes Benz cars in South India, but before he could formally launch his firm and execute the order for the limousine, he died a year before the Second World War broke out; within a few months, A.R. Pillai died on 7 September 1938, eight months past the age of 58 years. He had lived only for about 12 years after coming back home. He was survived by his wife Gouri Amma, and five children, Thankamma, Kesavan Nair, Rosscote Krishna Pillai, Suseela Bai and Padmanabhan Nair, the last three children having been born to him after return from Germany.