Company History HMT

8/13/2019 Company History HMT

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Company HistoryHMT

HMT Limited, formerly Hindustan Machine Tools Limited, is a state-owned

manufacturing company under theMinistry of Heavy Industries and Public

Enterprises inIndia.HMT was entrusted the vital task of building machine tools and in 1953the first Machine tool factory was set up in Bangalore.

Panditjisvision to bring-in a sense of time consciousness among the Indians, his belief that

India was capable of manufacturing precision components generated the pace for setting up a

watch manufacturing unit within the country. In 1961, Government of India entrusted the job

to HMT due to its capability, name and fame amongst the public sectors.

HMT set up a watch manufacturing Unit at Bangalore in collaboration with M/s Citizen

Watch Co., Japan in 1961. As the first manufacturer of Wrist watches in the country, HMT

successfully absorbed the totally new precision manufacturing technology for mass

production, and assembly of micro sized components. This tryst with firsts continued and

led to launch of Indias first Automatic Day-Date watch , first Quartz watch , first Braille

watch, first Ana-Digi watch and so on.

The first batch of Hand Wound Wrist Watches was released by the Honble Prime Minister

Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. Popularity and demand of watches was increasing which led the

company to expand its capacity. Accordingly, the expansion was done as mentioned below.

In 1972, Watch factory II was set up alongside the Bangalore Factory to manufactureAutomatic Day Date Watches with Japanese Technology. Watch factory III was set up at

Srinagar in 1972 with the entire Technical Knowhow from HMT engineers.

In 1975, Watch factory at Bangalore was further expanded to manufacture Main Spring, Hair

spring and Shock absorber components. By this, HMT totally acquired the technology of

Mechanical Watch making.

Later on HMT set up manufacturing facility to produce 2 million watch components sets at

Tumkur and Ranibagh in the year 1978 and 1985 respectively and watches were assembled at

various assembly units spread over the country. This was done with the objective of dispersal

of Industry and creation of employment besides catering to the demand for the product which

got accepted very well in the market. In line with the market trend, Watch factory at Tumkur

was partially converted to manufacture Quartz Analog Watches in collaboration with M/S

Citizen Watch Co, Japan. To cater to the Niche market, a specialized watch case

manufacturing facility was set up at Bangalore in 1983 .The project was implemented with

in-house expertise, without any foreign collaboration.

Since 1985, HMT Watches has been actively involved in making Floral Clocks, Solar Clocks,

International Clocks, Master-Slave clocks and Tower Clocks. The Garden clock at Bangalorethrills thousands of visitors every day.
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In the year 2000, HMT Watch Business group was re-structured as HMT Watches Limited (a

Wholly Owned Subsidiary of HMT Limited).

HMT Watches, having over 100 million satisfied customers, is a household name in the

country and enjoys a good Brand Equity till 1980s.

Successful technology absorption in all product groups through collaborations with world

renowned manufacturers and further strengthened by continuous in-houseR&D. Today,

HMT comprises sixsubsidiaries under the ambit of a holding company, which also manages

the tractors business directly.

HMT Limited took overPraga Tools Limited as one of its subsidiaries 1988. Praga Tools

Limited was established in May, 1943 as Praga Tools Corporation Limited to manufacture

machine tools with its head quarters atSecunderabad.It was renamed as Praga Tools Limited

in 1963. It is mainly involved in manufacture of machine tools including CNC machines.

HMT Limited has 18 manufacturing units. The constituent subsidiaries are given below while

the holding company retains the tractors business group.

HMTs tractor business commenced its operations in 1971 in technical collaboration with

M/sMOTOKOV,Czechoslovakia. HMT started the operation with the manufacture of

25HPtractor at the manufacturing plant inPinjore,Haryana state. Over the years, it has

developed tractors ranging from 25 HP to 75 HP.

YEAR EVENTS

1953 - The Company was incorporated in Bangalore. The Company was converted into a

Public Limited Company on May 13, 1977. The main objects of the Company is

Manufacturing of the Machine Tools, Metal forming presses and press brakes, pressure die,

casting machines and automatic plastic injection moulding machines, Automatic plastic

injection moulding machines, Paper cutting machines, Automatic plastic injection mouldingmachines, Paper cutting machines, Tractors 25/35/55 HP, Lamps and Lamp making

machines, Printing Machinery, Printing Machinery, Watches. Some of the trade names of the

watches manufactured are Janata, Sona, Pilot, Tarun, Nutan, Jawhar, Automatic Day and

Date, Priya, Chinar, Nishat, Rakhee, Avinash and Kohinoor.

The Machine Tool Division at HMT Bangalore, was the oldest manufacturing unit of the

Company and the product lines consist of 16 types of metal working machines. The Die

Casting Division was set up for the manufacture of Die Casting and Plastic Injection

Moulding machines in technical collaboration with Reifenhaeuser GmbH & Co. of West

Germany.
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1961 - The Watch Factory at Bangalore had two operating divisions the Watch Factory

Division: set up during the year in technical collaboration with Citizen Watch Co., Ltd.,

Tokyo, this division started with manufacture of hand winding watches. A new plant was set

up to manufacture self-winding watches in collaboration with the same Japanese firm and

Horological Machinery: Division was established for the manufacture of sliding headstock

automatics in technical collaboration with M/s. Jos Petermann, Switzerland.

The Watch Factory at Srinagar was set up for the manufacture of 3 lakh hand winding

watches.

1963 -The HMT, in Pinjore have two operating divisions attached to it, viz., Machine Tool

Division and Tractor Division. The Machine Tool Division was set up during the year. The

Tractor Divisions was set up in technical collaboration with Mototov Foreign Trade

Corporation, Prasha, Czechoslavakia.

1964 - The Two operating divisions attached to HMT, Kalamassery, were the Machine ToolDivision and the Printing Machine Division set up in collaboration with Societa Nebiolo,

Turin, Italy.

1965 - The HMT at Hyderabad had 3 operating divisions, the Machine Tool Division

primarily for the manufacture of special purpose machine tools. The Press Division was set

up in technical collaboration with M/s. Verson All steel Press Co., Chicago, U.S.A. The

Lamp Division was established for the manufacture of lamps and lamp components in

collaboration with United Incandescent Lamp and Electrical Co., Ltd. (Tungsram), Budapest,

Hungary.

1975 - The HMT at Ajmer was set up by the Govt. of India as the unit of Machine Tool

Corporation of India, Ltd. with effect from 1st April, the unit was merged with HMT.

1976 - The manufacture of critical components like hair spring and main spring were also

taken up by setting up a new plant by the Watch Factory Division at Bangalore.

The following collaborations agreements were concluded during the year: With the Cross

Company, Fraser, Michigan, U.S.A. for the manufacture of special purpose machines in

Hyderabad, With M/s. Creusot - Loire, Paris, for the manufacturing of rotary web offset

printing machines, With M/s. Laeis - Werke AG, Trier, West Germany, for the manufacture

of refractory presses, A MOU with M/s. Tesa SA, Renens, Switzerland, a subsidiary of

Brown & Sharpe Manufacturing Co., Rhode In land, U.S.A., for the manufacture of precision

measuring instruments.

1978 -The Company undertook a scheme to expand the capacity of Watch Factory to 4 lakh

watches in 1979 and 5 lakh watches in 1980.

The Govt. approved a total investment of Rs 24.50 crores in the watch factory to be

established at Tumkur in Karnataka State for the manufacture of 2 million watch movements.


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The Company undertook to set up a project for the manufacture of 4 million fluorescent tubes

per annum in collaboration for assembly line with Tungsram of Hungary at a capital outlay of

Rs 3.19 crores.

The Company undertook to diversify into the field of precision meterological and measuring

instruments at Srinagar. Govt. approval was obtained during 1979-80 and negotiations werein progress for foreign collaboration.

The Company undertook to set up a factory in Aurangabad, a backward area in Maharashtra,

for the manufacture of dairy machinery.

Industrial licence was obtained and a technical collaboration agreement was entered into

with Fortschritt Land maschinen Export-Import of German Democratic Republic (FLM).

With effect from 12th September, the name of the Company was changed from Hindustan

Machine Tools, Ltd. to HMT Ltd.

1980 -The Company entered into a collaboration agreement with Pegard S.A. of Belgium for

adding new models to the existing range of Horizontal boring machines.

1981 - The Company proposed to manufacture silver oxide miniature batteries in

collaboration with Hitachi-Moxcell Ltd., Japan. These would be used in electronic and quartz

watches. The Company received an industrial licence for the production of one million

stepper motors required for electronics watches.The subsidiary formerly known as Indo

Nippon Precision Bearings Ltd., changed its name to HMT Bearing Ltd. on 1st December.

1993 -To capture the growing urban market for fashionable watches, two new brands viz.,`Ramani' for gents and `Utsav' for ladies were launched.

Equity shares subdivided. 504,19,400 shares issued to Government of India.

1996 - The Company has decided to convert Lamp Division into a separate wholly owned

subsidiary.

1997 - Production also suffered due to slowdown in the economy coupled with stiff

competition from imported machines.The Tractors Group launched a 45 HP Coastal Special

model tractor for application in coastal areas on Commercial basis. A 59 HP model tractor

with Power Steering was also launched during the year. Orchard Special model tractor in 25

HP range was developed and was under test marketing. Modernisation cum Expansion plan

for the Tractor division was chalked out for increasing the production capacity of Tractor

division to 30,000 tractors at a cost of Rs 110 crores in the next two years. The entire net

worth of this subsidiary was eroded and a reference was made to BIFR as a sick company

under the Sick Industrial Companies (Special Provisions) Act, 1985. All shares issued to

Govt. of India.The public sector HMT has indigenously manufactured four-colour offset

printing press for the first time in the country in its unit at Kalamassery.

The HMT has introduced three new models the HMT 3022, HMT 3522 and HMT 4511

coastal special have been fitted with fuel efficient engines and heavy duty transmission.


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The machine tools division of HMT has entered a new area of manufacturing with press tools

and dies.

The Machine tools division has also entered into a joint working arrangement with MS

Giana, Italy, for the manufacture heavy duty CNC lathes for the defence sector. This range of

products will be built for the first time in the country.

HMT has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Union government under which

it is expected to increase its turnover to Rs.1,160 crore and post a net profit of Rs.10.45 crore

for the year ended March 1998.

HMT introduced ADD and dater watches priced at Rs.750/900 in September. On August 15

the company launched Swarna series.

1998 -HMT International Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of HMT, has bagged a Rs.13-crore

order for setting up an Entrepreneur Technical Development Centre (ETDC) at Dakar in

Senegal.

HMT International has already set up successfully training Algeria and the Maldives. A batch

of 17 Senegalese instructors has already undergone training at HMT's international training

centre in Bangalore. The company is launching 15 new models in the automatic day/date

range. HMT would issue 41,25,000 ordinary shares of Rs.10 each to the government. The

company board has recently approved the allotment of these shares. The company had

already approached the Bangalore Stock Exchange for issuing these shares to the

government. A total of 10,06,45,165 equity shares of Rs.10 is listed with the bourse.Machine

tools giant HMT is in touch with world's number one MT manufacturer Yamazaki Mazak to

enter into a possible alliance to manufacture the latter's machine cutting tools under a buy-

back arrangement.HMT Ltd has bagged the FIE award for the best quality, design and

aesthetic appearance of a product at IMTEX '98.HMT Ltd today announced a special

voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) for its lamp division employees under which those who

opt for it can remain at home with half their pay till such time that the public sector behemoth

receives its due from the National Renewal Fund. HMT International Ltd., a wholly owned

subsidiary of HMT Ltd., which has recently diversified into software exports has entered into

a strategic alliance with A1- pha data LLC of Abu Dhabi, a part of $500 million US group.

The two companies would jointly develop software business for HMT's Erp Solutions Vikas.

An MoU (memorandum of understanding) signed between the Government and HMT hasdelegated power to HMT to sanction schemes for incentives cum rewards. The Government

is making a fresh bid to privatise HMT Tractors, a profit-making unit under the fold of public

sector major HMT Ltd. HMT has two fully-owned subsidiaries now - HMT (International)

Ltd, which is a trading company and HMT (Bearings) Ltd, which manufactures ball and

roller bearings. It also has a partly-owned subsidiary - Praga Tools Ltd - based in

Secunderabad.

1999 - The Industry Ministry has directed the state-owned Hindustan Machine Tools to

explore possibilities of joint venture formation for its watch division.


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2000 - Icra has assigned an LAAA (SO) rating and an MAAA (SO) rating to the Hindustan

Machine Tools (HMT) bonds of Rs 469 crore 10-year tenure and Rs 40.43 two-year tenure.

2001- Mr Manohar Joshi, Union Minister for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises, has

unveiled the HMT 4922 tractor at a launch ceremony organised at Pinjore, Chandigarh. With

the introduction of the new actor,

2002- HMT Ltd has informed that consequent upon relinquishing of the charge of Chairman

& Managing Director, Tractor, upon resignation by Mr R A Sharma on July 04, 2002 Mr M S

Zahed, Director, Organisation & Management has taken additional charge of the post of

Chairman & Managing Director, Tractor of the Company.

2003-HMT Ltd has informed BSE that pursuant to Order dated January 9, 2003 from the

Department of Heavy Industry, Ministry of Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises,

Government of India, New Delhi, Shri M.S. Zahed, Chairman & Managing Director (Acting)

and Director (Organisation & Management) has been appointed as Chairman & ManagingDirector of the Company for a period of 5 years from the date he assumes charge of the post

or till the date of his superannuation or until further orders, whichever is earlier. Shri.M.S

Zahed assumed charge of the post of January 09, 2003.

2004-HMT Ltd. has informed that the equity shares of the Company have been delisted from

the Bangalore Stock Exchange Limited, the Regional Exchange for HMT Limited, with effect

from January 3, 2004.

2005-HMT inks agreement with ONGC, MRPL

2006-HMT Ltd has Shri. R Asokan, Director (Finance), Department of Heavy Industry, NewDelhi has been appointed as Part-time Official Director on the Board of the Company vide

Presidential Order dated October 30, 2006, with effect from October 30, 2006

2007-HMT Ltd has appointed Shri. N Gokulram, Additional Secretary & Financial Adviser,

Ministry of Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises, as Part-time Official Director on the

Board of the Company vide Presidential Order dated January 22, 2007, with effect from

January 22, 2007 and until further orders vice Shri. R Asokan, Director (Finance),

Department of Heavy Industry, New Delhi.

2008- HMT Ltd. has informed that Shri B.S. Meena has been appointed as Part-time OfficialDirector on the Board of HMT Limited vide Presidential Order F. No. 5 (35)/ 1995- PE. X

dated January 25, 2008, until further orders with effect from January 25, 2008.

2010- Hmt Ltd has informed that Shri Harbhajan Singh has been appointed as Part-time

Official Director on the Board of the Company with effect from January 11, 2010

2011-Shri S.G. Sridhar has been appointment as Chairman & Managing Director of the

Company.

2012-Dr. Vijay Shankar Madan has been appointed as Part-time Official Director on the

Board of the Company.

Documents

Company History HMT