History of Mukand Ltd.

YEAR EVENTS 1937 - Mukund limited was incorporated on 29th November, at Mumbai. The Comp. is engaged in general engineering work and manufactures iron and steel products, steel castings, steel structurals, EOT & other cranes, & various types of industrial machinery.

- The steel melt shop established continuous sequence casting with flying tundish practices & introduced a special techique for alloy additions.

- The vendors' business was taken over as a going concern as & from 21st October. The business of Hindustan Iron & Steel Products, limited was also taken over by Comp. from its Liquidator.

- 59,000 No. of Equity shares & 5,900 Defd. shares issued.

1944 - 68,750 Right Equity shares issued in the prop. 1:2.

1946 - 10,000 Right Pref. shares in propn. 1:20.

1958 - 2,04,725 Right Equity shares in propn. 1:1.

1960 - 4,09,450 Right Equity shares in propn. 1:1.

1963-67 - 1,00,000 Right Equity shares propn. 1:8, 9,18,900 Right Equity shares in propn. 1:1.

1970 - 2,44,601 Bonus Equity shares issued in March 1970, in the propn. 1:10.

1972 - 2,691,075 Bonus shares issued in the propn. 1:1.

1976 - 26,91,187 Bonus Equity shares issued in the propn. 1:2 in July 1976.

1979 - Mukand Holdings Pvt. limited was incorporated on 23rd June, as an investment Company. It became a wholly owned subsidiary of the Comp. & also a public limited Comp. with effect from 30th June. As at 31.3.1993, the Comp. held all the 1,24,950 No. of equity shares of Rs 100 each issued by this subsidiary.

1983 - Ladle refining furnace & the vacuum degassing station were successfully commissioned.

- 17,50,000 No. of Equity shares issued at a premium of Rs 5 per share in conversion of 13.5% debentures.

1984 - The 10.5 metre radius bloom caster, the largest in India, was commissioned in October.

- The Comp. formed a research & development division effective from 1st January.

- As on 30th June, the Comp. revalued its land, roads and buildings.

1985 - The Company application for collaboration with Advanced Design Materials Corporation, U.S.A., was approved by Government. - The Comp. as on 30th June, revalued its plant & machinery and the resulting increase of Rs 27,48,78,249 was credited to revaluation reserve.

- The Comp. was formed to acquire the business being carried on under the name & style of Mukand Iron Works, Mukand Steel Rolling Mills & Mukand Steel Foundry since 1920.

1986 - Basic engineering package was received from BBC Brown Boveri, Switzerland & the whole project was implemented during the year.

- The R&D introduced super steel - 60 bars. The controlled surface layer [CSLs] process developed for colouring stainless & alloy steel components for decorative purposes was fully established.

1987 - The Modernisation programme included top & bottom blown converter & additional roughing stand for bar mill. The converter was the first of its kind to be used for bulk production of stainless steel.

- The Comp. installed tools like scanning electron microscope and automatic computer controlled polishing machines. The R&D units designed & installed a pilot plant for production of larger quantities of coloured stainless steel components.

1988 - The oxygen top & bottom blown converter was installed. The dust collection system was also installed & commissioned during the period.

- 49,11,781 Bonus shares issued in the propn. 1:2.

1989 - Effective from 23rd March, the company name was changed from 'Mukand Iron and Steel Works Ltd.' to 'Mukand Ltd.'. This was done to reflect this company corporate identity in view of its diverse operations.

- The Comp. supplied the bulk of equipment for medium merchant & structural mill to Rashtriya Ispat Nagam Ltd.

- The Comp. developed both Railway & Non-Railway castings like side frames, bolsters, speciality couplers & track pads for the USSR & wear - resistant castings for American & Japanese markets.

- An electro-magnetic stirrer & an auto mould level controller had been installed in the bloom caster to provide for improved internal structure of blooms. The Comp. also installed an automatic pendulum type shot blasting machine, a machanised sand supply system, pollution control equipment etc.

- Mukand Dravo Wellman Pvt. limited became a subsidiary of the Company. As at 31.3.1993, the Comp. held 7,20,000 No. of equity shares of Rs 10/- each in the subsidiary.

- Effective from 23rd March, the Company name was changed from 'Mukand Iron and Steel Works, Ltd.' to 'Mukand Ltd.' This was done to reflect the Company Corporate identity in view of its diverse operations.

1990 - Production & sales of steel & alloy castings were lower mainly due to a short fall in the sales/exports to USSR & lack of additional orders for bogies & couplers from Railways.

- The major jobs undertaken during the year consists of heavy duty cranes ranging in capacity from 140 tonnes to 200 tonnes & iron ore handling equipment.

- A bell furnace was installed to spheroidise annealing of wire rods for ball bearing & other applications.

- Mukand Soviet Engineering limited a joint venture with two leading Soviet Organizations - Gipromez & Tyazhpromexport, became a subsidiary of Company. As at 31.3.1993, the Comp. held 60 equity shares of Rs 10 each in the subsidiary.

1991 - The Machine Building Division manufactured & supplied 11,000 tonnes of major machanical equipment apart from successfully completing the order for supply of equipment for Medium Merchant & Structural mill to Visakhapatnam steel plant. In addition, the unit also manufactured equipment for sponge iron plants & vacuum degassing equipment for mini steel plants and portal type scrapper reclaimer for exports. - During the year, orders were received from SAIL for supply of Oxygen furnace equipment for its Rourkela steel plant modernisation project.

- Exports increased due to better quality of products, introduction of new products, break through in new markets like Latin American countries & countries of Northern Europe. Some of new items introduced for exports were carbon steel fasteners made from steel manufactured by Company.

- Casting facilities in the steel plant were being modernised and the Comp. proposed to add ladle refining, vacuum degassing and rolling facilities.

- Some of additions made were hot briquetted iron feeding systems on the melting furnace, finishing facilities like spheroidised annealing furnaces, heat treatment furnaces and straightening machines.

- The R&D activities were carried out in heat treatment and development of import substitution steel viz., ball bearing, cold heading quality steel. Also, further studies were carried out in on surface finish, machinability & crack formation in stainless steel, free cutting steel & special steel.

1992 - The Machine Building division received preliminary acceptance certificate for successful commissioning of 11,000 TPA of equipment for medium merchant & structural mill project of Visakhapatnam steel plant.

- The Comp. also supplied & commissioned equipment of sponge iron plant for Bellary Steel & Alloys limited and Raipur Alloys & Steel Ltd.

- The machine building division undertook a major expansion project for augmenting the machining facilities & increasing the shed area for fabrication & assembly activities.

- The Comp. had set up Engineering Construction Division to undertake such services as feasibility surveys, project engineering & contracts in the engineering, chemical and metallurgical industries for site fabrication, equipment installation, piping, etc. as well as turnkey jobs.

- Becom Engineering Co. Ltd., merged with the Comp. on 20th October & became a division of Company.

- The Becom Engineering Division developed new models of heavy duty lathe, plano miller, high spindle torque lathe, oil country lathe & deep hole drilling machines.

- Wire rod mill unit No. 2 was commissioned & with this, the Comp. hoped to produce wire rods of new & stringent grades of special steel & improve the quality of present products to cater to the needs of discerning & demanding customers.

- During September-October, the Comp. offered 36,94,744 No. of equity shares of Rs 10 each at a premium of Rs 90 per share on Rights basis in the proportion 1:4 [all were taken ups].

- Another 1,84,737 No. of equity shares of Rs 10 each at a premium of Rs 90 per share were also offered to employees' on an equitable basis. [all were taken ups].

- Simultaneous to the above Rights Issue, the Comp. offered 36,94,744-16% secured redeemable Non-convertible debentures of Rs 325 each with detachable equity warrants on Rights basis in the proportion 1 debenture: 4 equity shares held.

- Another 1,84,737-16% secured Non-convertible debentures of Rs 325 each with detachable equity warrants were offered to employees on an equitable basis. [only 1,82,179 debs. taken ups].

- The detachable warrants, to be separately listed on the Stock Exchange, enable the holder to apply for 1 equity share of Rs 10 each for cash at a price not exceeding Rs 100, within 24 months from the date of allotment of debentures. These debentures are to be redeemed in five equal annual instalments beginning at the end of 5th year from the date of allotment of debentures.

1993 - The Comp. transferred the business of Engineering Construction Division to Mukand Engineers limited in order to concentrate on the main business.

- As on 1st March, the Comp. allotted 23,759 No. of equity shares of Rs 10 each in the proportion 1 equity: 35 shares held in Beco & 1 equity: 6 Pref. held in Beco. The Comp. sold the assets of Batala Unit of erstwhile Beco Engineering Co. Ltd.

1994 - The Comp. proposed to transfer machine building division to the newly formed Comp. named Mukand Industrial Machinery Ltd.

- The Comp. installed an electro-magnetic stirrer & auto mould level control equipment in order to get better quality of steel,

- The Comp. installed the new technology of chemically bonded sand system & suitable processing facilities to step up the output of bright bars & steels.

- 33,70,500 Shares [Prem. Rs 315 per shares] allotted to FIIs, FIs & Corporate Bodies on private placement basis. 38,76,923 shares [Prem. Rs 90 per shares] to equity warrant holders.

1995 - The Steel Foundry division undertook to enlarge the share of high value alloy & stainless steel castings in the product-mix.

- The Rolling Mill division set up & commisioned solution annealing furnaces & related downstream facilities for coil finishing. It was proposed to install facilities for annealing of cold heading quality steels with a view to providing better services to the fastener industry & meet international competition.

- Import substitution products were developed during the year, for fastener manufacturers & fine wire drawing units.

- The Comp. received approvals to commence construction for an area of about 2 lakh sq. ft. The Comp. proposed to develop a hotel site therein.

- The Comp. achieved break through in new markets like Suria, South Africa & South East Asian Countries. The Comp. has developed casting for customer in Europe and the USA.

- The Comp. has signed agreements with five ministeel plants for providing technical know-how for electric steel manufacture. In some of these the Comp. is also rendering service for supervision of construction, erection & commissioning of plants.

- With the continuous steep increase in cost of scrap and electricity, production of steel through electric furnace route was being uncompetitive vis-a-vis main producers.

- The Comp. proposed to have a alliance with Kalyani Ferrous Industries limited which is setting up a mini blast furnace at Hospet, Karnataka. Under the term of alliance, the Company would install facilities for converting hot metal into steel.

- The Comp. would buy hot metal from Kalyani & convert it into steel billets and blooms & sell a part of output to Kalyani Steel Ltd.

- Necessary permission were received from Govt. of Karnataka to set up a steel plant with a capacity of 1.25 million tonnes p.a. The steel plant was to be set up by a new Comp. of which Mukand was to be a major promoter.

- The Comp. was promoted through joint venture to manufacture stainless steel billets & flats at Jodhpur.

- The Comp. received for an industrial license for substantial expansion of its steel making capacity from 1,35,000 tonnes to 2,70,000 tonnes per annum.

- Mukand Industrial Machinery limited became a wholly owned subsidiary of Comp. with effect from 31st March.

- 2,259,250 No. of Equity shares allotted on exercised of conversion warrants.

1996 - Trip hummer testing fascility designed in-house was commissioned.

- The Comp. intensified its multipronged efforts for cost reduction by improving yields & by securing reduction in alternate raw materials.

- The Comp. entered into technical know-how agreement with a leading Japanese consultancy firm which would study the company's operations & would implement know-how including training of personnel by Japanese.

- Two short-time cycle furnaces imported from USA were installed for heat treatment of wire rods.

- The Comp. installed the largest bloom caster in the country to cast blooms upto the size 250 mm square. The Comp. also undertook rehabilitation & modernisation of bar mill at Kurla.

- The Comp. signed a MOU with Mitsui Engineering Services, Japan for co-operation in Indian for manufacture of cranes for container projects.

- A surface wheel lathe for Indian Railways, a hevy duty roll turning CNC lathe with an admit of 6 inches between centre & a heavy duty CNC roll turning lathe of 20 tonnes were developed.

1997 - As at 31st March, a sum of Rs 8250 lakhs was outstanding against term loans from financial institutions.

1998 - The International Aluminium Products limited was to have a capacity of 50,000 tonnes of rolled products p.a. & was likely to be commissioned in early of year.

- The joint venture Comp. was floated by Mitsui Babcock Energy India Private Ltd, a subsidiary of Britain-based global engineering Comp. Mitsui Babcock Energy Ltd, & Mukand Ltd, an Indian engineering company.

- The Comp. has signed a memorandum of understanding with Hitachi to supply boilers to Hinduja National Power promoted Vizag power project. The Comp. is also talking to National Thermal Power Corporation to supply boilers to its Talcher project.

- Crisil has downgraded the non-convertible debenture issues of Mukand from A+ to BBI+.

- Mukund Limited, a part of Bajaj Group, manufactures 23 grades and 600 types of castings including carbon steel, manganese steel and stainless steel.

1999 - Mukand Ltd, the alloy steel major, has given itself a six month deadline to bring down rejection levels by over 50 per cent at its manufacturing facilities at Kalwe district in Maharashtra & Hospet [in Karnatakas].

- To improve the quality of its steel grades, Mukand has developed a new technique to strike an effective co-relation between the contaminants in steel making & the metallurgical features of stainless steel.

- Mukand, which is a pioneer in steel making & engineering, has developed a series of innovative technological processes to cope with the current slump in the industry.

- Mukand Ltd is one of largest stainless & alloy steel manufacturers in the country.

- Mukand Ltd, a leading steel making & engineering company, has as a part of company overall corporate strategy, developed a series of innovative technological processes to cope with the current slump in the industry.

- In a bid to beat the current slump in the steel industry, Mukand Ltd has developed a series of technological processes to reduce production costs, eliminate defects & customise its products to suit the needs of customers.

2000 - Mukand Ltd., leading private ISP Satyam Infoway and Calcutta-based M K J Enterprises have entered into a joint venture agreement to launch a new Comp. for an e-commerce global portal or web marketplace for steel trading.

- The Comp. has decided to close down its foundry unit at Kurla in Mumbai.

- Rahul Bajaj has been appointed as the new Chairman of Company.

- Alloy Steel maker Mukand has introduced a Voluntary Retirement Scheme at its Kalwe plant in Maharashtra

2004

-Enters the capital market with a rights issue of shares in the ratio of nine shares for every four shares held to raise Rs 50.64 crore. The offer price is Rs 10 per share

-Jamnalal Sons Pvt. limited have acquired 205,35,981 equity shares representing 28.076% of total paid up capital of Mukand Ltd

-Mukand Ltd has appointed Shri. K M Jayarao as the Nominee Director of ICICI Bank Ltd on the Board of Comp. in place of Smt. Vishakha Mulye with effect from May 10, 2007.