The Mahindra beginning is as synonymous with Steel as it is with the Jeep. Join us as we trace our history in Steel.

Mr. R.K. Pitamber and Mr. R.R. Krishnan with EAC top management.

The Founders
1940's Pre Independence

J.C. Mahindra, one of our founders, was appointed the first Iron & Steel Controller of India in 1941. For this he only accepted a princely salary of Rs.1/- from the government. Prior to that he was the Head of the entire commercial division of Tata Iron & Steel Co.

K.C. Mahindra was the first non-government Director in Hindustan Steel Limited - the first state owned Indian steel company, which planned and built mammoth Integrated Steel Plants like the Rourkela Steel Plant, Durgapur Steel Plant, the Bhilai Steel Plant and Bokaro Steel. Prior to that he was also Chairman of the Coal Commission and Head of the Indian Supply Mission, Washington.

K.C. was instrumental in bringing the LD process of steel making to India. Thanks to his vision and perseverance the Rourkela plant became the first to make high-grade steel in India at a time when the process was totally new to the whole world.

Mr. Somnath Roy and Mr. R.R. Krishnan with a Japanese delegation.

First Business and People
1940's Post Independence

Steel Trading was the first business activity of the Mahindra group.

The first invoice of M&M was raised for steel
trading.

The steel division was the dream of our founders. The dream merchants who made it a reality were Mr. Somnath Roy and Mr.K. Ramachandran, the two steel stalwarts of the Group.

Senior M&M executives at the inauguration of the first Steel Service Centre.

Unique Relationships
1950's

Mahindra, Mitsubishi Corp & Iwai (which later became Nissho Iwai), were a formidable threesome since 1950. Their relationship lasted over five decades and is the only one of its kind in the history of Japanese Steel Mills & Trading Houses.

In 1950, M&M became the first Indian company to enter Japan and import steel. The first consignment was of 5000 tons of billets, which was received at Madras and rolled at Steel Rolling Mills, Nagapatinam.

The "Steel Men" of M&M with Mr. Ohashi, MD of Nippon Steel.

The Firsts
1960's

Introduced Super High Tensile Plates for the Indian HydroElectric Projects. Entire Penstock material for the Sharawati Dam supplied from Japan.

Introduced Copper-bearing plates. Supplied 50,000 tons of copper bearing plates for the 75 km long BMC pipeline from Mumbai to Tansa and from Tansa to Vaitarna.

In 1964 the MUSCO alloy steel plant was conceived and executed by the Steel Division. The master architect, who once again fulfilled our founders' dream of building a Steel plant, was none other than Mr.K.Ramachandran.

Exported 3000 tons of steel slabs from Rourkela Steel Plant to UK, at a time when Indian steel was unknown in overseas markets.

Supplied over 150,000 tons of Rails to Iran State Railway. This was one of the most high value exports for Bhilai Steel plant then and brought great credibility to the division and the company. Mr.Somnath Roy, then Head of the Steel Division steered the transaction.

M&M's first Steel Service Centre projest team.

Reliable Partners
1970's

M&M worked with two of the largest steel mills of the world - Nippon Steel & US Steel.

A major accident at the Rourkela Steel Plant led to stoppage in production of HR coils. The M&M steel Division stepped in and despite the short notice was able to arrange 140,000 tons of HR coils from Japan, to overcome the supply shortage.

Moving Vehicle Inventory
1980's

In 1986-87 M&M shipped over 5000 CKD vehicles to Iran through an innovative counter trade arrangement.

Mr. Somnath Roy (right) with Mr. R.R. Krishnan, Mr. Tagai and Mr. I. Hosono of Mitsubishi Corp.

India's First Service Centre
1990's

M&M's Intertrade division was formed by merging all the trading activities of M&M namely Steel, Machine Tools (from Auto Division) and Printing Machines (from MSL).

M&M invested Rs.10 crores in a Steel Service Centre, the first in the organised sector, at a time when M&M's profit was
just Rs.12 crores. The Service Centre is today the backbone of the Division.

Intertrade was formed into a separate company, Mahindra Intertrade Ltd. in 1999.

The Service Centre that was originally conceived for auto cut-to-length sheet requirements evolved to provide more value-added products like - laminations for the transformer industry and coils for the refrigeration compressor industry. The Service Centre expansions have continuously kept pace with the growth aspirations of Mahindra Intertrade.

Inauguration of the second Steel Service Centre in Sharjah.

The New Millennium
2000's

Actively associated with Delhi Metro Rail Project. Introduced high-speed turnouts.

On 19th Feb 2005, Mahindra Intertrade inaugurated the Electrical Steel Service Centre at Sharjah, its first overseas Service Centre as a JV with the Japanese
No. 1 Steel Plant - Nippon Steel. Very few companies have partnered with Nippon Steel ever.

Technical Business Group Activity
(Originally Machine Tool Division under Auto division)

Over 1200 machine tools and rubber machinery installed in India and overseas by our own skilled, principal trained engineers.

Global Services

The principals have high regard for our multi-skilled engineers and have been utilizing their services for overseas installations.

The gear shop machinery of the GM DAEWOO plant in Romania and installations at the DAEWOO plant in China have been carried out by Mahindra Intertrade engineers.

M&M delegation with Mr. Makihara, President, Mitsubishi Corp..

Few Major Installations

In 1963, Mahindra Intertrade supplied 18 large machine tools to the DLW Varanasi plant. In the mid-eighties DCW Patiala bought another five machine tools (CNC version of the above), which were installed by the Mahindra Intertrade team.

From 1979 to 1982, Mahindra Intertrade supplied about 27 machine tools to the Mahindra Peugeot Engine Project.

In 1992, it installed the largest multi-strand Semi-Continuous Casting M/c for Aluminum Billets at NALCO, Bhubaneswar.

In 2002, it installed one of the biggest Aluminum Billet Saw Systems with material handling facility, for the largest Indian defense factory.

BPO Activities

The principal relationship has been forged stronger, by outsourcing manu-
facturing for them in India. Mahindra Intertrade builds their machinery locally with very little import content. The group has been building rubber-processing machines - preformers, deflashing machines for local and overseas customers for the last two years.

M&M's steel activity has been profitable despite the cyclicality of the steel business, fair and adverse business conditions and even during the worst steel recession periods.

Compiled by
Mr. Mohan Raghavan with inputs from Mr. R.R Krishnan.