Company History HMT

HMT Limited, formerly Hindustan Machine Tools Limited, is a state-owned manufacturing company under the Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises in India. HMT was entrusted the vital task of building machine tools and in 1953 the first Machine tool factory was set up in Bangalore. Panditjis vision 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 manufacture Automatic 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 Bangalore thrills thousands of visitors every day.

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-house R&D. Today, HMT comprises six subsidiaries under the ambit of a holding company, which also manages the tractors business directly. HMT Limited took over Praga 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 at Secunderabad. 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/s MOTOKOV, Czechoslovakia. HMT started the operation with the manufacture of 25 HP tractor at the manufacturing plant in Pinjore, 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 moulding machines, 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.

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 Tool Division 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.

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 were in 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.

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 buyback 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 has delegated 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.

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 & Managing Director 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, New Delhi 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 Official Director 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.