Hindustan Cables Limited (HCL) was a government-owned company that made telecom cables in
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
.
It was under the
Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises
The Ministry of Heavy Industries is an executive agency of the Government of India. The Ministry entails for promoting the engineering industry viz. machine tools, heavy electrical, industrial machinery, and auto industry and administration of ...
.
[
]
Foundation and growth
Hindustan Cables was founded at Rupnarayanpur
Rupnarayanpur, Rupnarainpur or Hindustan Cables Township, is a census town in the Salanpur CD block in the Asansol Sadar subdivision of the Paschim Bardhaman district in the Indian state of West Bengal.
Geography
Location
Rupnarayanpur is l ...
in Asansol
Asansol is a (Tier-II) metropolitan city in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the second largest and most populated city of West Bengal and the 33rd largest urban agglomeration in India. Asansol is the district headquarters of Paschim Bar ...
, West Bengal in 1952. Present headquarters is Kolkata.
The objective was to make India self-reliant in manufacturing communications cables.
The company has grown to make a broader line of products in locations in Hyderabad
Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part ...
(Telangana), Naini
Naini (also known as Naini Industrial Area) is a satellite neighborhood and a twin city of Prayagraj in Prayagraj district, Uttar Pradesh, India. By the 1950s Naini was established as the chief industrial area of the city.
History
Naini had a ...
, Allahabad (Uttar Pradesh) as well as the original plant in Rupnarayanpur
Rupnarayanpur, Rupnarainpur or Hindustan Cables Township, is a census town in the Salanpur CD block in the Asansol Sadar subdivision of the Paschim Bardhaman district in the Indian state of West Bengal.
Geography
Location
Rupnarayanpur is l ...
. In 1984 HCL acquired Machine Tool Works in Narendrapur
Narendrapur is a neighbourhood in the Rajpur Sonarpur of the South 24 Parganas district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is a part of the area covered by the Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA).
Geography
Area overview
Bar ...
, Calcutta from Cycle Corporation of India
Cycle, cycles, or cyclic may refer to:
Anthropology and social sciences
* Cyclic history, a theory of history
* Cyclical theory, a theory of American political history associated with Arthur Schlesinger, Sr.
* Social cycle, various cycles in soc ...
.
Products include jelly-filled and fibre-optic cables, telephone and computer cords.[
]
Decline
HCL was profitable until 1994, but began incurring losses in 1995. The company was referred to the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction
The Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) was a development finance institution under the ownership of Ministry of Finance, Government of India, part of the Department of Financial Services of the Ministry of Finance. Set up ...
, which was unable to revive it.
At one time the company had over 7,000 workers, but by August 2006 there were fewer than half that number and in 2003 Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited
Bharat, or Bharath, may refer to:
* Bharat (term), the name for India in various Indian languages
** Bharata Khanda, the Sanskrit name for the Indian subcontinent (or South Asia)
* Bharata, the name of several legendary figures or groups:
** Bha ...
(BSNL), the state-owned telecom provider, stopped placing orders. Tata Consultancy Services
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is an Indian multinational information technology (IT) services and consulting company with its headquarters in Mumbai. It is a part of the Tata Group and operates in 150 locations across 46 countries. In July ...
was brought in to review the situation and recommended investment to diversify into new product lines. On 17 August 2006 there was a debate in Lok Sabha
The Lok Sabha, constitutionally the House of the People, is the lower house of India's bicameral Parliament, with the upper house being the Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-past ...
on revival of HCL, whose employees were not being paid their salaries.[
]
Revival
In 2002 the ministry was considering merging HCL with the Ordnance Factory Board
Ordnance Factory Board (OFB), consisting of the Indian Ordnance Factories, now known as Directorate of Ordnance (Coordination & Services) was an organisation, under the Department of Defence Production (DDP) of Ministry of Defence (MoD), Gove ...
. In the years 2011–13 proposal was submitted for handing over HCL to Ministry of Defence. Good progress has been made and restructuring is under way for the organisation. Several visits were made to the units by IOFS officers. Further action is underway, awaiting budget sanction, but nothing is held. Eighteen months' salary of employees are still pending.
References
Manufacturing companies established in 1952
Government-owned companies of India
Defunct manufacturing companies of India
Manufacturing companies disestablished in 2016
Companies based in Kolkata
Indian companies established in 1952
Indian companies disestablished in 2016
1952 establishments in West Bengal
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