Occasion: Centenary Year Celebration of Kirloskarvadi Plant Hundred Years Of Heritage Every great organization is the lengthened shadow

of one man. Laxmanrao Kirloskar may not be amongst us any more but he continues to inspire us across time. It all began when Laxmanrao Kirloskar set up a business of assembling and selling bicycles in Belgaum in partnership with his brother, Ramu anna. With customer satisfaction topmost in his list of priorities, the business was doing well. However trouble lurked round the corner. In January 1910, the municipality asked the Kirloskars to vacate the land occupied by them to make room for a new suburb. Suddenly, they found themselves in dire need of a place to live and work. Sensing this need, the Raja of the princely state of Aundh, offered Laxmanrao the land he needed in his state. Two months later, Laxmanrao Kirloskar set foot on 32 acres of barren land on Kundal Road railway station, strewn with cacti and infested by cobras. Laxmanrao spared no time, putting together a team of 50 workers and their families to transform the barren expanse, with no electricity or water into a dream village. The township was planned and constructed with Ramuanna at the helm. People like N.W. Gurjar, Shambhuanna Jambhekar, Anantrao Phalnikar, Shankarrao Kirloskar and N.K. Joshi put their efforts to make one of the first Industrial Townships in India. That was a hundred years ago.

Since then, the Kirloskar spirit of enterprise has played a significant role in meeting the needs of both agriculture and industrial sector. To their credit are a string of Firsts in India the first iron plough, the first pump, the first diesel engine, the first electric motor. all manufactured indigenously. Thus evolved the group, in step with the countrys needs which was taking industrial revolution in its stride congruent to its political and social progress. KBL: The first born! Kirloskar Brothers Limited (KBL), the first Kirloskar group company, struck roots at Kirloskarvadi to become the flagship company serving as a keel to the fleet that was to follow. The era of Kirloskar enterprise had dawned.

As the only Indian company that entered the engineering market with its own branded products, KBL took the competition with British brands head-on. These were to usher in a new economic order in the Indian industry in times to come. Having established itself in the market, KBL diversified into fluid handling and control systems. Its ascent to the status of being Indias largest manufacturer of pumps and valves was swift.

The clouds of World War II hovering above, threatened to barricade import of machine tools into India. With characteristic foresight and business acumen, the Kirloskars got into manufacturing of machine tools, electric motors and pumps for army use, hospital furniture, springs for hand grenades, etc. This paradigm shift from farm implements to machine tools, created a new company The Mysore Kirloskar Company Limited.

Transforming The Face Of Rural India The achievement of Kirloskar Brothers Ltd. at Kirloskarvadi, is an ideal example of how an industry can revitalize the rural economy and improve the quality of life of people there. All KBL ventures have been founded on rural soil. For instance, the Dewas plant set up in 1962, in Madhya Pradesh which manufactures monobloc and submersible pumps for agricultural and domestic use; the plant at Shirval in Maharashtra, where 100 mm stainless steel submersible pumps are manufactured; our Kondhapuri plant, also in Maharashtra, which manufactures valves. Thus KBL shares Gandhiji dream of empowering rural India.

The publication of magazines Kirloskar, Stree and Manohar

was an initiative towards

moulding emloyees; but more so to empower women from the colony.

On A Green Mission Since its inception over a century ago, the Kirloskar Group has contributed significantly to the Green revolution in India and has been a harbinger of prosperity to millions.

At Kirloskar, we imbibe the spirit of Green and strive endlessly with single-minded zeal to spread the colour of prosperity and growth in India and across the world. Standing witness are

mega irrigation projects completed by KBL where huge amount of energy saving has been achieved through sheer innovation and engineering excellence. The worlds largest pumping scheme at Sardar Sarovar Project in Gujarat, the worlds second highest lift irrigation scheme at Devadula, and irrigation schemes like Pushkara, Tadipudi and Guthpa in Andhra Pradesh are a few examples. In fact, KBL has formed a separate Green Energy Sector to focus on developing renewable energy technologies such as solar, micro hydel, etc.

In tune with our commitment towards a greener planet we have constructed our new Corporate Office in Pune as per stringent LEED norms for Platinum rated Green Buildings. KBL also conforms to the CII Code for Ecologically Sustainable Growth. Additionally, our manufacturing plants are certified by ISO 9001, ISO 14001, OHSAS 18001 and SA 8000. KBL, thus, is a company genuinely practising the Mantra of Green in vision, thought and deed.

KBL An Ideal Corporate Citizen As a philanthropic approach, the seed of CSR sowed by Shri Laxmanrao Kirloskar in 1888 and nurtured by Shantanurao Kirloskar continues to this day. A good company, they say delivers excellent products and services; while a great company does all that and strives to make the world a better place! And so the Kirloskar saga of success continues, setting one milestone of achievement after another, the horizons of its capabilities forever expanding.