Walchand Hirachand

Construction business

It was in the construction business, first as a railway contractor and then as a contractor to other departments of Government, that Phatak-Walchand private limited (partnership till 1915) made money. Phatak left the firm after it bought a foundry and undertook a mining lease, with the view that it was stretching itself into too many areas. Meanwhile, the firm found it difficult to bag larger contracts due to its small size and the absence of marquee names. It was merged into Tata Construction Company in 1920 to overcome these problems. Some of the major projects executed by the company include the commissioning of the tunnels through the Bhor Ghats for a railway route from Mumbai to Pune and laying of water pipes from Tansa Lake to Mumbai and also the laying of tracks for the Barsi Light Railway. Other major projects executed by the firm include the Kalabag Bridge over Indus and a bridge across the Irrawaddy River in Burma. All these projects were directed by Walchand. In 1929, he became the managing director of the company. In 1935, the company was renamed Premier Construction to reflect the fact that the Tatas had sold their stake in the firm to Walchand. Another construction company he founded was Hindustan Construction Company in 1926, which is today one of the civil and engineering construction giants of India.

Sugar machinery and confectionery

Walchand founded Walchandnagar Industries in 1908, which was started as a large-scale sugar farming firm but was later diversified into also making sugar refined spirits, sugar machinery, plastic goods, cement plant, paper and pulp plant, and water tubes. Walchand made Gulabchand its chairman to look after its day-to-day affairs. Walchandnagar Industries is today a diversified company manufacturing also boilers, turbines and also supplies strategic components to India's defence and aerospace sector. WIL was subject to sanctions by the United States following Pokhran-II for its involvement in India's nuclear and space programs. The sanctions were dropped in 2001.

Another company in sugar and confectionery, the Ravalgaon Sugar Farm, was started by Walchand in 1933 and its Confectionery Division was started in 1942. Today, Ravalgaon Sugar is one of the market leaders in the Indian confectionery market.

Shipping

In 1919, after the end of World War I, he along with his friends, Narottam Morarjee, and Kilachand Devchand, bought a steamer, the SS Loyalty from the Scindias of Gwalior; with Narottam Morarjee being major financer. Walchand's underlying assumption was that the post-war years would also spell massive growth for the shipping industry just as the war years had done. However, British companies such as P&O and BI Shipping were strong in the shipping industry and most of the attempts by domestic players till then had failed. Walchand named his company The Scindia Steam Navigation Company Ltd. and competed with the foreign players. It was recognised as the first Swadeshi shipping company in the true sense of the term and was referred to widely in Mahatma Gandhi's columns in Young India and Harijan on Swadeshi, boycott of foreign goods and Non co-operation movement. It barely managed to survive after entering into agreements on routes and fare wars with its foreign competitors. However, Walchand still supported new indigenous shipping ventures, as he believed that a strong domestic shipping industry was the need of the hour. In 1929, he became the Chairman of Scindia Steam and continued in the same position till 1950 when he resigned on grounds of ill health. By 1953, the company had captured 21% of Indian coastal traffic. Sir Lallubhai Samaldas was amongst the later directors of Scindia Steamship.

Aircraft factory

In 1939, a chance acquaintance with an American aircraft company manager inspired him to start an aircraft factory in India. Hindustan Aircraft was started in Bangalore in the Mysore State with the active support of its Diwan, Mirza Ismail, in December 1940, where Kingdom of Mysore were partners in venture. Others, who invested their money were Dharamsey Mulraj Khatau and Tulsidas Kilachand. By April 1941, the then British Indian government acquired one-third of ownership and by April 1942, it nationalised the company by compensating shareholders adequately. The reasons that prompted the government for nationalising were – it was a sensitive and strategic sector; Japan's advances in the war meant that the government needed fast responses and hence, direct ownership; and it could not allow a crucial war project to remain undercapitalised or loss-making. Hindustan Aircraft was renamed as Hindustan Aeronautics Limited.

Shipyard

Walchand also believed that there was a strong need for a shipyard in the country and started work on it in 1940 at Visakhapatnam. In the days when it was unthinkable of foundation ceremony to be done by anyone other than British officials, the truly patriotic Walchand decided to break the tradition and the foundation stone for the shipyard was laid by Dr. Rajendra Prasad on 21 June 1941, who was acting Congress President at that time. It was named Scindia Shipyard Limited and its first product, the ship Jalusha was launched soon after independence by Jawaharlal Nehru in 1948. However, the shipyard came under government control a few months later (due to the presumed importance of the project to country's security and economic growth) and was fully nationalised in 1961 and was renamed Hindustan Shipyard Limited.

Car factory

As early as 1939, Walchand was interested in establishing a car factory in India. Birla family was also working in the same direction. In 1940, he signed an MOU with Chrysler but could not get clearances and concessions from the Mysore government unlike in the case of the aircraft company. In 1945, he established Premier Automobiles Limited (PAL) near Mumbai. Again in this venture his other partners were Dharamsey Mulraj Khatau and Tulsidas Kilachand, who were also Walchand's partners in Hindustan Aircraft. By 1948, the company started indigenisation in a small way with an in-house components department. The first car rolled out of his factory in 1949, thus beating Birla's Hindustan Motors venture in the race. In 1955, it tied up with Fiat and started manufacturing engines in India. By 1956, parts of chassis were locally made.

Pipelines

In the year 1926, he formed The Indian Hume Pipe Company with licence from Humes of Australia for the manufacture of Reinforced Cement Concrete Pipes. Today the company manufactures various types of concrete pipes and undertakes construction of water supply infrastructure for towns and villages in India.

Insurance

To face competition in the shipping business from the British and other foreign businesses, Walchand entered allied businesses such as insurance. In 1937, he presided over the conference of Indian insurance companies held in Calcutta.