Nair oversaw the development of Fertilisers and Chemicals Travancore into one of the major industrial units in Kerala; it was during his tenure that a new
Ammonium Sulphate plant, FACT Engineering and Design Organisation (FEDO) and FACT Engineering Works (FEW) were set up and the work on the establishment of another production unit in
Ambalamedu was started. He developed the FACT community into a self-sufficient one with own schools and hospitals. He was known to have assisted
Kathakali artists such as
Kalamandalam Hyderali,
Kalamandalam Sankaran Embranthiri,
Kalamandalam Kesavan and
Kalamandalam Neelakantan Nambisan of which Hyderali served as a faculty at the cultural wing of FACT. The book, while narrating his early administrative days, describes the
Indian annexation of Hyderabad, code-named
Operation Polo as well as the political differences between
Jawaharlal Nehru and
Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. The book was later translated into English by one of his junior colleagues at FACT, Gopakumar M. Nair. The book had another English translation, too, under the title,
The Autobiography of a Bureaucrat, and the translation was done by Meena Das Narayan, a writer and the niece of M. K. K. Nair. His life was chronicled as a television series,
Smruthi which was broadcast on
Safari TV in 2017. The Kerala Management Association has instituted an annual lecture, M. K. K. Nair Memorial lecture in his honour and a community centre in
Eloor, the place where he spent the later days of his career,
MKK Nair Memorial Community Hall has been named after him.
M. K. K. Nair Foundation, an eponymous organization in his name, has instituted an annual award,
M. K. K. Nair Award, for recognising excellence in performing arts. == CBI case and acquittal ==