HMT Limited

HMT Limited, formerly Hindustan Machine Tools Limited, is an Indian state-owned electronics company under the control of the Ministry of Heavy Industries, Government of India.[5] It was founded in 1953 as a machine tool manufacturing company, diversifying into watches, tractors, printing machinery, metal forming presses, die casting and plastic processing machinery, and CNC systems and bearings. HMT is headquartered at Bangalore.

The watch making division, HMT Watches, opened in 1961. During the 1970s and 1980s HMT was the largest supplier of wrist watches in India, with popular styles including Janata and Pilot. The division closed in 2016, largely due to mismanagement leading to heavy losses.[6][7] In the same year, the Government of India also shut down HMT Chinar Watches Ltd., HMT Bearings, and HMT Tractors. HMT Machine Tools Limited still manufactures industrial machines and tools with a work force of around 2,500 in six manufacturing units situated at Bangalore (Mother unit), Kochi, Hyderabad (2 units), Pinjore and Ajmer

History

Hindustan Machine Tools was incorporated in 1953 by the Government of India as a machine tool manufacturing company. Over the years, HMT diversified into watches, tractors, printing machinery, metal forming presses, die casting and plastic processing machinery, and CNC systems and bearings. HMT is headquartered in Bengaluru (Bangalore).

Technology was absorbed in all product groups through collaborations with world-renowned manufacturers and further strengthened by continuous in-house R&D.

Today, HMT consists of six subsidiaries under the ambit of a holding company, which also manages the tractor business directly.

HMT Limited took over Praga Tools Limited as one of its subsidiaries 1988.[11] Praga Tools Limited was established in May 1943 as Praga Tools Corporation Limited to manufacture machine tools with its headquarters at Secunderabad. It was renamed as Praga Tools Limited in 1963. It is mainly involved in the manufacturing of machine tools, including CNC machines.

Watch division

HMT set up a watch manufacturing factory in Bangalore in collaboration with Citizen Watch, a Japanese company, in 1961. The first batch of mechanical (hand wound) wrist watches manufactured here was released by the then Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru. The most popular mechanical watch was HMT Janata. Other mechanical watch styles included HMT Pilot, HMT Jhalak (Semi Skeletal), HMT Sona, HMT Braille, HMT Sujata, HMT Rajat.

In 1972, HMT expanded its watch manufacturing capacity with a set up alongside the Bangalore Factory to manufacture additional watches. In 1975, the watch factory at Bangalore was further expanded to manufacture main spring, hair spring and shock absorber components.[12] HMT set up additional manufacturing facilities to produce watch components sets at Tumkur in 1978 and at Ranibagh in 1985. The factory at Tumkur was partially converted to manufacture quartz analog watches in collaboration with Citizen. To cater to the niche market, a specialised watch case manufacturing facility was set up at Bangalore in 1983.[12]

Since 1985, HMT Watches had been involved in making floral clocks, solar clocks, international clocks and tower clocks, most popular among them being the garden clock at Lal Bagh in Bangalore. In the year 2000, HMT Watch Business group was re-structured as HMT Watches Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of HMT Limited.[12]

In September 2014, the Government of India shut down HMT operations in a phased manner. By late 2016, the website for HMT watches was taken down.[13]

Closure of HMT Watches Division

In September 2016, the Government of India closed some divisions of HMT: HMT Watches Ltd, HMT Bearings, HMT Tractors, and HMT Chinar Watches Ltd. The main reasons were that the company was making losses for more than a decade. During 2012–13, the company had losses of ₹242 crore on revenues of only ₹11 crore. In contrast, competitor Titan's watch business reported sales of ₹1,675 crore during the same year. The government also tried restructuring it in 1999 to improve its finances but the company continued to make losses. While in the 1980s several new companies entered the market with newer designs and more modern production techniques, HMT is said to have been hobbled by slow decision making and was unable to compete.[14] Machine tools divisions of HMT in Bangalore, Hyderabad and Kochi (Kalamassery) are still operational and catering industrial and defence sectors of India and abroad. The Government of India is mulling takeover of HMT by Ordnance Factory Board.[15][16]

former name	Hindustan Machine Tools Limited
type	Public
traded as	bse: 500191 nse: HMT
industry	Electronics Engineering
founded	February 7, 1953
founder	Government of India
hq location	59, Bellary Road
hq location city	Bangalore, Karnataka
hq location country	India
key people	S. Girish Kumar (Chairman & MD) ‡R1R‡
products	Machine tools Printing machinery Food processing machinery Watches Tractors Bearings‡R2R‡
revenue	inr 321000000
revenue year	2018
operating income	inr 36700000
income year	2018
net income	inr -71640000
net income year	2018
assets	inr 13230000000
assets year	2023
equity	inr 1002900000.0000001
equity year	2018
owner	Government of India (93.68%)‡R3R‡
num employees	1,742‡R4R‡
num employees year	2018
website	http://www.hmtindia.com

History

Watch division

Closure of HMT Watches Division

Operating units

References