Kirloskar Brothers Ltd turns 100

Pune, March 11:

Kirloskar Brothers Ltd (KBL) has entered the centenary year of its existence, company officials said here on Monday.

To mark the occasion, industrialist Ratan Tata unveiled before a galaxy of India Inc leaders on Sunday KBL’s new ‘Code of Ethics’ to strengthen its century-old values.

The revised set of ‘Code of Ethics’ says the company would emerge as a world leader in fluid management solutions and deploy disruptive technologies like Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, 3D printing, virtual reality and augmentative reality for introducing end-to-end process revolution for its products and services.

Established in 1888 as a tiny bicycle shop in Belgaum (Karnataka) it was incorporated as a company in 1920. Kirloskar Brothers Limited (KBL) is today the flagship company of the $2.1 billion Kirloskar group.

The road on which Laxmanrao Kashinath Kirloskar started the cycle repair shop, is today named as Kirloskar Road.

KBL Chairman & Managing Director Sanjay Kirloskar said there will be an even stronger emphasis on product research and development, embracing new technologies for innovations besides inculcating a strong value system across the group.

KBL Non-Executive Director Rama Kirloskar highlighted the need for improving engineering skills at the grassroots level to enable Indian industry create an enabling environment, which in turn can help our gen-next engineers achieve their rightful place in the world.

An English translation of the biography of company’s founder – Laxmanrao Kirloskar – “The Man Who Made Machines”, penned originally by Shankarrao Kirloskar, was released in the presence of other descendents, family members and eminent scientist R.A. Mashelkar.