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LAXMANRAO KIRLOSKAR

HISTORY
Laxmanrao Kashinath Kirloskar (Marathi: लक्ष्मणराव
काशिनाथ शकलोस्कर) (20 June 1869-1956) was
an Indian businessman. He was the founder of the Kirloskar
Group. He was born on 20 June 1869, in a small village,
Gurlahosur in Belagavi District.
Laxmanrao was fond of two things: mechanical objects
and painting. Against his father’s wish and with financial
support from his eldest brother Ramuanna, Laxmanrao joined
J J School of Art in Bombay in 1885. Unfortunately, he had to
quit after 2 years as he was found to be partially color-blind.
He gave up painting but continued to study mechanical
drawing at the institute. This skill came handy and lead him to
a position of Assistant Teacher of Mechanical Drawing at
Victoria Jubilee Technical Institute (VJTI) on a salary of Rs. 45
per month. Sometime in early 1890s Laxmanrao started
bicycle dealership – he would buy bicycles in Bombay and
send them to his brother Ramuanna in Belgaum where he
would sell them. For a cycle of Rs. 700 to 1000 Ramuanna
would also charge Rs. 15 for teaching how to ride.[1]
His first venture - a small bicycle repair shop at Belagavi.
The road on which he started the shop, is today named as
Kirloskar Road. Strongly believing that agricultural
implements must fit the milieu they are used in, he
manufactured iron ploughs, the first Kirloskar products.
He established a small unit in the former Aurangabad
State for production of Chaff-cutters and manufacture of iron
ploughs. In the early days, Kirloskar had to meet with
opposition from farmers who believed that iron ploughs were
poison to the land and make it useless. Superstitious farmers
were extremely hard to convince and Laxmanrao Kirloskar
took two years to sell his first iron ploughs. Laxmanrao
Kirloskar could not find a suitable place for his workshop;
help came from the Ruler of Aundh who offered him a place
and arranging loan of seventeen thousand Indian rupees. In
1910, Laxmanrao started his factory in an arid waste land by
the side of a renowned railway station, named Kundal Road.
The factory now known as famous Kirloskar Industries and the
station called as Kirloskarwadi. Laxmanrao Kirloskar was not
only an industrialist but also a great social reformer. When
blind orthodoxy was rampant in rural area, he advocated the
removal of untouchability. He banned untouchability in the
township that he had established at Kirloskarwadi which is in
Sangli district. He believed in social reform and tristed in the
goodness of man. He employed ex-convicts as night
watchman.
He had read about industrial townships in Europe and
America where the owners of industries had built
communities for the employees. His dream was to build his
own industry and community for his employees; he realized
this dream with Kirloskarwadi, a place where he started the
Kirloskar Brothers Limited factory in 1910.
Laxmanrao was married to Radhabhai Kirloskar and had
four children, Shantanu Kirloskar, Rajaram Kirloskar,
Prabhakar Kirloskar, Ravindra (Ravi) Kirloskar.
Departments of Posts, Union Government of India issued
a postal stamp for Laxmanrao Kirloskar on 20 June 1969
marking 100 years of birth anniversary.
CAREER
Laxmanrao Kashinath Kirloskar (1869-1956) was an
Indian businessman. He was the founder of the Kirloskar
Group.In 1888, he set up his first venture – a small bicycle
repair shop at Belgaum. Strongly believing that
agricultural implements must fit the milieu they are used
in, he manufactured iron ploughs, the first Kirloskar
products.

He had read about industrial townships in Europe and


America where the owners of industries had built
communities for the employees. His dream was to build
his own industry and community for his employees; he
realized this dream with Kirloskarwadi, a place where he
started the Kirloskar Brothers Limited factory in 1910.

A man who believed that an understanding of one’s


environment and reality was essential to the manufacture
of path-breaking industrial implements. From this
steadfast belief was born the iron plough, the first
Kirloskar product. Originally intended as an essential aid
to agriculture, the plough soon became an icon of reform
and revolution. Shri Laxmanrao Kirloskar was not only
an industrialist but also a great social reformer. When
blind orthodoxy was rampant in rural area, he advocated
the removal of untouchability. He banned untouchability
in the township that he had established at Kirloskarvadi.
He believed in social reform and trusted in the goodness
of man. He employed ex-convicts as night watchman.

Shantanurao Kirloskar, the eldest son of the founder


travelled to Pune to initiate a new aspect of the group’s
activities – diesel engines. His experience of trying to
secure the land for his factory in Pune was quite different
from his father’s in Kirloskarvadi. There was no
benevolent ruler here to bestow acres gratis.
Shantanurao had to face the tangle of red tape and public
resistance to acquisition of land for industrial purposes.

Finally, after arguing that factories have a longer life


than human beings Shantanurao Kirloskar won a place
for Kirloskar Oil Engines Ltd. (KOEL), twelve months
after signing an agreement of collaboration with
Associated British Oil Engines Export Ltd. of UK.

This collaboration, incidentally, was the first of its


kind between an Indian and a foreign company, and
signified a bridging of the technological gap between east
and west. The KOEL factory was incorporated in 1946,
and soon after that gave India her first vertical high-speed
engine.

Today Kirloskar brothers are a 1.20 billion US Dollars


engineering conglomerate driving critical industries.
They are century old pioneers in areas of specialization
like power, construction and mining, agriculture,
industry and transport, oil and gas and environment
protection with a range of world-class industrial products
and turnkey services.

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