The story
Founded by Qimat Rai Gupta in 1958.1
In 1958, Qimat Rai Gupta moved from Malerkotla to Old Delhi, where he set up an electrical equipment trading shop. In 1971, Haveli Ram Gandhi sold his switchgear company–Havells–to Gupta, who was his distributor at the time. The company subsequently entered other product segments such as cables, lightings, appliances, fans and geysers.
In 1983, it bought the loss-making Delhi-based Towers and Transformers Ltd and turned it around in a year. Between 1997 and 2001, Havells also bought ECS, Duke Arnics Electronics, Standard Electricals and Crabtree India. There was a 50:50 joint venture between Havells and the UK-based Crabtree, and Havells later acquired Crabtree's stake in the JV. In 2007, Havells acquired European lighting company Sylvania for about €200 million. In 2010, Havells introduced ceramic metal-halide lamp.
In April 2015, Havells acquired a 51% majority stake in Promptec Renewable before increasing its stake in the company to 100% in 2018. In December 2015, Havells sold 80% stake in Sylvania Malta and Havells Exim Hong Kong to Shanghai Feilo Acoustics for ₹1,070 crore (US$166.79 million) and sold the remaining 20% two years later. In February 2017, it acquired the consumer durables business of Lloyd Electricals at an enterprise value of ₹1,600 crore (US$245.69 million).
From Wikipedia’s article on Havells, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4