Hyderabad Allwyn
now defunct, Public Sector Undertaking | |
Industry | Automotive, Watch, Refrigerators, Home appliance, Vehicle Coach building |
Founded | 1942, Hyderabad as Allwyn Metal Works Ltd. |
Defunct | 1995 |
Products | Allwyn Refrigerators, Allwyn Watches, Allwyn Pusphak – Scooters, Allwyn – Nissan Cabstar Truck. |
Number of employees | over 6500 |
Hyderabad Allwyn Limited, established in 1942 was an Hyderabad State government's Engineering and White Goods manufacturing company involved in manufacture of Automobiles, (Trucks, Scooters and Bus coach building, Refrigerators and Wrist Watches. Allwyn Refrigerators and Allwyn watches were a one time leading brand in India during the 70's and 80's. The company was closed in 1995, as part of the Andhra Pradesh State government.
Early History and Products
Hyderabad Allwyn Limited was established in January 1942 as Allwyn Metal Works. It was started as joint venture of Industrial Development Trust of the Nizam's Hyderabad Government and M/s Alladin & Company.[1]
Hyderabad Allwyn Metal Works Limited used to assemble Albion CX9 buses for Hyderabad State Railways.[2] The ballot boxes for first ever general elections in 1952 were made by Hyderabad Allwyn Metal Works.[3] In 1969 due to inability of its management to run the company efficiently, it was taken over by State Government.
Coach Building division
The first double-decker buses in Hyderabad were introduced in April 1963. These buses were designed by Hyderabad Allwyn Limited with APSRTC .[4] Eventually the Coach building division became one of the largest coach building contractors for the Andhra Pradesh governments state operated APSRTC buses. Allwyn also built the Indian Army's medium-capacity Shaktiman truck bodies which were originally designed by MAN, Germany as 415 L1 AR truck.
Refrigeration and Appliance division
The Allwyn refrigerators were one of the most popular brand in India, its rivals were Godrej, Kelvinator and Voltas. Even till mid-2000 the refrigerators was widely rated for its energy efficiency.[5]
Under Andhra Pradesh State Government
Tie-up with Nissan
In 1983 the automobile division entered into a tie-up with Nissan Motor Company, Japan to manufacture the Nissan Cabstar range of Llight commercial trucks. The plant was set up at Zahirabad near Hyderabad and this division was named as Hyderabad Allwyn Nissan Ltd with Nissan holding 15% of the equity.
.
Watch Division
Hyderabad Allwyn entered the watch business in 1981 in collaboration with Seiko of Japan to manufacture mechanical and Quartz watches. Until then the, central Government-run HMT had been the market leader for wrist watches in India[6] Allwyn along with HMT and Titan Industries had dominated the Indian watch market with almost 10% of the market share.[7] Hyderabad Allwyn Limited in 1987 gave A. R. Rahman, who was then still known as Dileep his first break in advertising when he was asked to compose the jingle for a new range of watches known as Allwyn Trendy Watches.[8] [9]
Scooters
Andhra Pradesh Scooters Limited (APSL) had manufactured scooters under the brand name Allwyn Pushpak.
Closure and aftermath
However, by mid-1990s the performance of the company was very weak and by 1993 all its reserves were washed off.Hyderabad Allwyn Limited had become sick company when its accumulated losses had exceeded Rs.180 crores (INR 1.8 Billion) as on 31.3.1993 and was referred to the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) under the provisions of the Sick Industrial Companies (Special Provisions) Act, 1985. Hyderabad Allwyn become a company with negative net worth.[10] The BIFR in January 1993 declared Hyderabad Allwyn Ltd., as a sick industry and appointed IDBI as an operating agency to prepare a rehabilitation scheme. The Government of Andhra Pradesh agreed to amalgamate Hyderabad Allwyn Limited’s Refrigeration and Appliances division with Voltas Limited, taking due cognizance that Voltas Limited, a Tata group company and agreeing to retain only 5000 employees.[11]
The company had three divisions, bus body building, watches & refrigerators. The Watch Division of erstwhile Hyderabad Allwyn Limited was formed into a new company as Allwyn Watches Limited and the Auto and Bus Body division was formed into a new company called Allwyn Auto Ltd. Consequent to the scheme of Amalgamation as approved by the BIFR, M/s.Hyderabad Allwyn Limited ceased to be in existence.
The refrigerators division which was privatised in 1994 and handed over to Voltas continued with Allwyn range of models.[12] The Allwyn refrigerators model was eventually phased out by Electrolux in 2002, when Voltas themselves sold their refrigerator division to the Sweden based Electrolux.
APSL, the scooter division is also presently liquidated.[13] The watch division is now closed and is pending before BIFR.
Sale of Allwyn Nissan
In 1989 Allwyn Nissan was privatised and sold to Mahindra, renaming the company as Mahindra Nissan Allwyn Ltd.[14] In 1994 MNAL was merged with Mahindra & Mahindra, and the Zahirabad unit is Mahindra & Mahindra's light commercial vehicles unit. The old Allwyn Nissan LCV is still sold by Mahindra as Mahindra Loadking in various other configurations like light tipper and Kerala remains one of its largest market.
See also
References
- ↑ Journal of the Institute of Public Enterprise, Volume 15. Hyderabad: Institute of Public Enterprise, Osmania University Campus. 1992.
- ↑ http://www.albioncx19project.org.uk/other_cx19s.htm
- ↑ "Ballot box, Feature Photo, A ballot box, made by Hyderaba". Timescontent.com. 1951-08-20. Retrieved 2011-08-24.
- ↑ Yarlagadda, Srinivasulu (2006). Marketing of passenger transport services. New Delhi: APH Publishing Corporation. p. 40. ISBN 81-7648-976-X.
- ↑ (PDF). http://www.renewingindia.org/ Refrigerators: Which is the ‘Coolest One’? http://gaia.lbl.gov/india/asl/Indian%20Refrigerator%20Survey%20Article.pdftitle= Refrigerators: Which is the ‘Coolest One’? Check
value (help). Retrieved 15 November 2013. Missing or empty|url=
|title=
(help) - ↑ Watch Industry – Evolution "Wrist Watch. Industry Overview" Check
value (help). www.indiastudychannel.com. Retrieved 25 September 2011.|url=
- ↑ http://www.dsir.gov.in/reports/techreps/tsr119.pdf
- ↑ "Advertisement jingles". Retrieved 25 September 2011.
- ↑ "A R Rahman`s biography". 123musiq.com. Retrieved 27 July 2011.
- ↑ Restructuring public enterprises in India privatisation and disinvestment By R. K. Mishra, B. Navin, New Delhi, 2002
- ↑ "Voltas Limited - Allwyn Unit - Andhra Pradesh High Court". indiankanoon.orgaccessdate=15 November 2013.
- ↑ "Voltas > Company History > Diversified > Company History of Voltas - BSE: 500575, NSE: VOLTAS". Moneycontrol.com. Retrieved 2011-08-24.
- ↑ "Andhra Pradesh Scooters Ltd(liquidated) Background details about Company Profile". Indiainfoline.com. Retrieved 2011-08-24.
- ↑ Nair, Vivek (27 November 2004). "Rider set for Nissan entry". The Telegraph (Calcutta, India).