KEC International Limited (Kamani Engineering Corporation) is an Indian multinational company and also India's second largest manufacturer of

electric power transmission Electric power transmission is the bulk movement of electrical energy from a generating site, such as a power plant, to an electrical substation. The interconnected lines that facilitate this movement form a ''transmission network''. This is ...

towers and one of the largest Power transmission,

Engineering, Procurement and Construction Engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contracts (a type of turnkey contract) are a form of contract used to undertake construction works by the private sector on large-scale and complex infrastructure projects. Overview Under an EPC co ...

(EPC) companies in the world. It is headquartered in Mumbai, India and is part of the

RPG Group The Rama Prasad Goenka Group, commonly known as RPG Group, is an Indian industrial and services conglomerate headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra. The roots of the RPG Group can be traced back to the enterprise of Ramdutt Goenka in 1820. RPG ...

, engaged in EPC works for Power Transmission, Distribution, Railways, Cables, Solar, Civil and Smart Infrastructure. It has operations in the regions of India, SAARC, EAP, Africa, Middle East, and the Americas.

History

Ramjibhai Kamani founded Kamani Engineering Corporation (now KEC International) on 7 May 1945 which became the first

company in

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

and a pioneer in the field of electric power transmissionPiramal, Gita; Herdeck, Margaret, ''India's industrialists, Vol. 1,'' Rev. ed. 1986, Three Continents Press, Washington, D.C. and

railway electrification A railway electrification system supplies electric power to railway trains and trams without an on-board prime mover or local fuel supply. Electric railways use either electric locomotives (hauling passengers or freight in separate cars), ele ...

. In 1950, the company received an order from the

Indian government The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, ...

to supply transmission towers for the prestigious

Bhakra Nangal Dam Bhakra Dam is a concrete gravity dam on the Sutlej River in Bhakra Village near Bilaspur in Bilaspur district, Himachal Pradesh in northern India. The dam forms the Gobind Sagar reservoir. The dam, located at a gorge near the (now submerg ...

project and a steel tower fabrication plant was established in

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

in partnership with R. Foures, France. This was augmented by a second unit in

Jaipur Jaipur (; Hindi: ''Jayapura''), formerly Jeypore, is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Rajasthan. , the city had a population of 3.1 million, making it the tenth most populous city in the country. Jaipur is also known as ...

, Rajasthan and by 1967, KEC was supplying three-fifths of India's demand for transmission towers.Ramji H. Kamani on Wikipedia By the 1970s, KEC had carried out turnkey power transmission projects in Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Egypt, Nigeria, Algeria, Mauritius, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, The Philippines, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, the United States, and Canada. With eighty percent of its turnover of almost being earned through exports, KEC soon became the largest manufacturer of transmission towers in India and the second largest in the world, next in rank to SAE of Italy. On 18 March 2005, KEC International Limited was incorporated in the

Ministry of Corporate Affairs The Ministry of Corporate Affairs is an Indian government ministry primarily concerned with administration of the Companies Act 2013, the Companies Act 1956, the Limited Liability Partnership Act, 2008, and the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 20 ...

, India.

Future Projects

KEC International Ltd, the flagship company of the RPG Group, on Saturday said it has bagged orders worth Rs 1,520 crore across various business verticals. Source:
Economics Times: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/indl-goods/svs/engineering/kec-international-bags-orders-worth-rs-1520-crore/articleshow/72915678.cms
#The Hindu Business Line: https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/companies/kec-international-bags-orders-worth-1323-cr/article26508937.ece

Acquisition by the RPG Group

KEC accumulated heavy financial debt during the 1973 oil crisis and the

1979 energy crisis The 1979 oil crisis, also known as the 1979 Oil Shock or Second Oil Crisis, was an energy crisis caused by a drop in oil production in the wake of the Iranian Revolution. Although the global oil supply only decreased by approximately four pe ...

both of which adversely affected international transactions conducted in US Dollars as world crude oil prices quadrupled. The company struggled but was bound to completing its project commitments. This resulted in the company incurring heavy losses. Financial institutions such as IDBI (Industrial Development Bank of India) had invested some in KEC and began to worry when KEC's financial reports showed a record loss of . They began to press for "professional management". Around this time, Texmaco, a K.K. Birla company began to show interest in KEC, but their bid to control the company was frustrated and they backed away. Financial institutions stepped in and appointed their nominees to take over control from the Kamani family. The company soon began to limp back to profitability as KEC's sales climbed from in 1972 to in 1982. R.P. Goenka, chairman of the

had been vying for KEC shares for a long time. Even after financial institutions stepped in, some members of the Kamani family continued to hold a small number of shares in the company. Goenka carefully maneuvered to purchase these shares making sure that he did not get trapped in the same pitfalls that had defeated the Birla's attempts to take over KEC. Shareholding negotiations and approvals from financial institutions were sought before the company was put up for court auction by the government.

2005-Present

On 18 March 2005, KEC International Limited was incorporated in the

, India. As of 31 March 2022, KEC International Ltd is a turnover flagship company of the RP Goenka Group (RPG Group). The company currently is in the following major business areas: * Power Transmission & Distribution * Railway Infrastructure * Civil * Smart Infrastructure * Cables & Cabling Solutions * Solar The company has manufacturing facilities in Nagpur, Jabalpur, Jaipur (Tower and Steel Structurals), Vadodara and Mysore (Cables). In March 2010, RPG Cables was merged with KEC International. In September 2010, KEC International acquired Houston, Texas based SAE Towers, a group of operating companies incorporated in the United States, Mexico and Brazil consolidated through SAE Towers Holdings, LLC. This acquisition created the largest steel lattice tower manufacturer in the world with approximately 300,000 tons of annual production capacity. In 2017, the Company's Water Business was merged with the Civil Business. The Civil Business now undertakes turnkey construction for Residential, Industrial and Commercial projects, including workshops.

Employees

As of 31 March 2022, the KEC International Limited has a total of 40,251 employees, including 9,114 permanent employees.

External links

References

{{RPG Group Manufacturing companies established in 1945 Engineering companies of India Manufacturing companies based in Mumbai RPG Group Indian companies established in 1945 Indian brands Companies listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange