History of Andrew Yule and Comp. Ltd.
YEAR EVENTS
1919 - The Comp. was incorporated on 26th May, for purpose of acquiring & continuing the managing Agency business of firm of Andrew Yule and Comp. which had been established in India in 1863. The Comp. carries on business as general merchants, traders, agents & dealers in shares, stocks, & securities. It also runs an engineering division which produces a wide range of machinery & equipment including `Sirocco' & `PEW' products.
- The Company engineering division has facilities for producing specialised ferrous & non-ferrous heavy castings & intricate fabricated items & also manufacturer river & coastal crafts.
- The Comp. also has a factory which produces, among other things, electrical equipment like switch-fuses, switchboards, circuit breakers, metering kiosks, control panels, drop out fuses, feeder pillars, cable joint & terminal boxes, flamerproof air circuit breakers & lightning transformers, transductors, voltage regulators, rectifiers & power transformers.
- As Managing Agency House, the Comp. was intimately connected with tea, jute, coal, electric power generation & distribution, in addition to its traditional business activities.
1967 - Equity shares subdivided. 6,00,000 Bonus Equity shares issued in prop. 2:3. 5,000 Pref. & 1,00,000 Equity shares issued to Davidson and Co., limited Belfast, upon merger of Davidson of India Pvt. limited with the Company.
1968 - 3,00,000 No. of equity shares issued at par through prospectus. 1,00 - 9% Pref. 1,00,000 No. of Equity shares issued without payment in cash to members of steam a Mining Equipment [Indias] Pvt. limited on merger.
1976 - A letter of intent received for belting project was converted into an industrial licence.
- In order to ensure that the belting project became viable at the earliest, the Comp. finalised a technical collaboration agreement with BTR Belting, Ltd., U.K., to provide technology for the manufacture of synthetic fibre reinforced rubber conveyor belts.
- Calcutta Discount Co., limited was amalgamated with the Company with effect from 1st January.
- 22,790 - 4.5% Pref. shares held by Calcutta Discount Co. Ltd. were cancelled upon merger with the Company.
1977 - An agreement was entered into with BETHE, GmbH, West Germany for providing technical know-how for manufacture of air pollution control equipment.
- A technical collaboration agreement was also finalised with Davidson and Co. Ltd., U.K., for their entire range of products including the static & dynamic components for heavy duty fans.
1978 - The Comp. also entered the field of electrical equipment manufacture by virtue of its acquisition of Steam and Mining Equipment [Indias] Private Ltd., effective from 1st July. - The Comp. acquired the entire business of Davidson of India Pvt. Ltd., which along with port Engineering works limited was amalgamated with the Comp. with effect from 1st July.
- The Comp. also acquired the business of steam and Mining [Switchgears] Ltd., an associate to Steam and Mining Equipment [Inds] Pvt. limited effective from 1st July.
- The Comp. also acquired the business of Steam and Mining Equipment [Indias], Pvt. limited The Comp. closed down its marketing activities.
- Hooghly Printing Co., limited with an issued & paid up capital of 1,89,500 No. of equity shares of Rs 10 each is a wholly owned subsidiary of Company.
1982 - 51,82,834 No. of Equity shares issued for cash par.
1983 - The Comp. received a Letter of Intent for manufacture of material handling equipment & there was a search for identifying a suitable technical collaborator to diversify into this field.
- The Air Pollution Control Equipment Unit received a Letter of Intent for manufacture of Wet suppression dust control system. A technical collaboration agreement for this purpose, was executed with B.J. Devaux and Co., U.K. This unit proposed to diversify into the design & manufacture of high capacity electrostatic precipitators for thermal power stations. A technical collaboration agreement for manufacture of this product was executed with Peabody Sturtevant Ltd., U.K.
- The Electrical Unit took up diversification programmes into the fields of electronics, mine communication & safety devices.
- The Belting Division successfully implemented the technology for the manufacture of polyester cord fan & vee belts under the brand name of `YULE SHAKTI' in technical collaboration with Goodyear India, Ltd.
- The Comp. entered into a technical collaboration agreement with BETH GmbH, West Germany for transfer of technology in connection with the manufacture of Bethfulls which is an improved model over Bag Filters.
- Two more technical collaboration agreements were executed with two U.K. companies & B. J. Devaux and Co., & Peabody Sturtevant, Ltd., for manufacture of west supression dust control system & electrostatic precipitators respectively.
- The Government nationalised the undertaking of Transformer & Switchgear, Ltd., Chennai & vested the assets thereof with the Comp. with effect from 8th November. As a result, this undertaking became a unit of Company.
- The Company investment subsidiaries viz., Clive Row Investment Holding Co., limited & Chitpore Golabari Co., limited were amalgamated with the Comp. with effect from 31st March.
- 52,630 No. of Equity shares allotted to the minority shareholders of CRIHCO in term of amalgamation scheme. 2,96,300 No. of equity shares allotted to Government of India.
1985 - The belting division took steps to instal a few additional equipment during the year to increase the production capacity of `YULE SHAKTI' polyester fans & vee belts.
- The Comp. obtained necessary approval for a project to manufacture steel cord reinforced rubber conveyor belting.
1986 - A proposal for transfer of latest technology for the manufacture of pole mounted switchgears & sectionalizers under the existing agreement with Togami Electric Manufacturing Co., Ltd., Japan, was undertaken during the year.
1987 - A new factory was inaugurated on 10th October. With the installation of balancing equipment, production of conveyor belt & fan & Vee belts increased.
- Effective from 26th August, the Company six tea subsidiaries viz., Banarhat Tea Co., Ltd., Basmatia Tea Co., Ltd., Hoolungooree Tea Co., Ltd., Mim Tea Co., Ltd., Murphulani [Assams] Tea Co., limited & the Rajgarh Tea Co., Ltd., were amalgamated with the Company.
- As per the scheme of amalgamation, the Comp. allotted without payment in cash preference & equity shares to the amalgamated tea companies as: 2,217-6 1/2% Cumulative Preference shares of Rs 100 each. 9,259 - 9.3% Cumulative Preference shares of Rs 100 each; & 18,82,714 No. of Equity shares of Rs 10 each.
- The undertaking of Brentford Electric [Indias], limited was nationalised vide the Brentford Electric [Indias], limited Act, 1987 with effect from 1st April, 1986 & all the rights, titles and interest in relation to the said undertaking was vested with the Company.
1988 - The electrical unit entered into a collaboration agreement with Metronex Ltd., Poland for manufacture of sophisticated mining electronic equipment. This is in addition to the collaboration with Togami Electric Mfg. Co., Ltd., Japan for production of Vacuum Circuit breakers.
1989 - The engineering division proposed to introduce new products to make good its poor performance.
- The engineering division developed various electronic products such as flame proof & intrinsically safe sequence controller with pre-start alarm & communication system incorporating required modification suggested by Department of Electronics.
- Necessary steps were taken for manufacture of synthetic fibre reinforced conveyor belting.
- 9%, 6.5% & 9.3% Pref. shares redeemed 11,57,600 No. of equity shares issued to Govt. of India against the compensation paid by for acquiring Brentford Electric India limited & Transformer and Switchgear Ltd.
1990 - A collaboration agreement was entered into with the Department of Electronics for manufacture of Linear Accelerator machines used for cancer therapy.
1991 - The Comp. entered into a collaboration agreement with M&I Heat Transfer products of Canada to acquire technical knowhow for the manufacture of specialised air handling & air ventilation equipment having critical application in nuclear power projects, defence, steel & petrochemical industries.
- As a result of amalgamation of Steam and Mining Equipment [Indias] Private Limited, the Comp. acquired a 50% interest in Brentford Electric [Indias] Limited, for whom the Comp. now acts as sole selling agents.
1992 - Yule Red launched was well received in the market. `Yule Dust' launched in the second half of year also received encouraging response.
- The electrical unit undertook to manufacture EPABX & ERAX equipment based on C-Dot technology. the Togami unit proposed to import SF-6 gas filling plant from Germany for production of gas filled bottom chambers for capacitor switches leading to import substitution.
- The Brentford unit entered into a Technical collaboration agreement with Daihen Corporation Ltd., Japan for manufacture of Automatic Step Voltage regulators.
- The Comp. finalised technical collaboration agreements with Togami Electric Manufacturing Co., Ltd., Japan for the manufacture of following products: 3.3 KV airbreak contractors & isolators; block type airbreak LT contactors; bi-metallic overload relays & moulded case circuit breakers.
1993 - A technical collaboration agreement was signed with Mushroom Consulting J. Huys, B. V. Holland for cultivation of white button mushrooms.
- The Comp. also undertook to use modern technology for setting up a Horticulture & tissue culture project.
1994 - In the engineering division, manufacture of specialised air handling air ventilation equipment & isolation dampers for nuclear power plants was held up due to technical problems.
- The belting division faced acute crisis due to lower order intake as the orders were spread out over sector & time period.
- Due to liquidity crisis, the Comp. was not able to implement its diversification activities viz., export oriented agro based products. It was proposed to set up a new Comp. Yule Agro Industries limited to take over the said agro based products.
- Andrew Yule and Company, has introduced a voluntary retirement scheme to trim down its workforce in engineering & electrical divisions.
1998
-Joint venture with Phoenix AG of Germany for belting division has been further delayed as its bans want a part of money received by Yule from the sale of 74 per cent stake in the loss-making division
1999
-Phoenix AG of Germany has picked up 74 per cent stake in the belting division of Andrew Yule and Co an ailing public sector undertaking [PSUs] for a consideration of around Rs 35 crore.
-submitted a revival-cum-restructuring proposal for its engineering division to the Centre for its consideration.
2000
-Acepted & prematurely retired a few of its employees based on undated voluntary separation applications given by them.
2001
-Shri Arindom Mukherjee appointed as Chairman & Managing Director of company
-Offer Voluntary Retirement Scheme [VRSs]. Voluntary retirement scheme fails to achieve its objective as the management was not able to release union staff members, mainly clerks & workmen, who opted for VRS at its head office
2002
-Approves issue & allotment of fresh 2,900,000 Equity Shares of Rs 10 each to the Central Government in the name of President of India in conversion of financial assistance of Rs 29,000,000 sanctioned & disbursed to the Comp. by Central Government.
2003
-Board approves the issue and allotment of fresh 43,05,000 equity shares of Rs 10 each at par to the Central Government in the name of President of India in conversion of financial assistance of Rs 43.050 million sanctioned & disbursed to the Comp. by Central Government
