HMT Limited, formerly Hindustan Machine Tools Limited, is a
state owned company
A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a Government, government entity which is established or nationalised by the ''national government'' or ''provincial government'' by an executive order or an act of legislation in order to earn Profit (econom ...
under the control of the
Ministry of Heavy Industries,
Government of India. It was founded in 1953 as a machine tool manufacturing company, diversifying into watches, tractors, printing machinery,
metal forming presses,
die casting and plastic processing machinery, and CNC systems and bearings. HMT is headquartered at
Bengaluru
Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...
(Bangalore).
The watch making division, HMT Watches, opened in 1961. During the 1970s and 1980s HMT was the largest supplier of wrist watches in India, with popular styles including Janata and Pilot. The division closed in 2016, largely due to mismanagement leading to heavy losses.
In the same year, the Government of India also shut down HMT Chinar Watches Ltd., HMT Bearings, and HMT Tractors. HMT Machine Tools Limited still manufactures industrial machines and tools with a work force of around 2,500 in six manufacturing units situated at
Bangalore (Mother unit),
Kochi,
Hyderabad (2 units),
Pinjore and
Ajmer. These mostly serve India's defence, government and educational Institutions.
HMT's wholly owned subsidiaries include HMT Machine Tools Limited and HMT International Limited. HMT also holds a majority stake in Praga Tools Limited (51%).
History
Hindustan Machine Tools was incorporated in 1953 by the
Government of India as a machine tool manufacturing company. Over the years, HMT diversified into
watches,
tractors, printing machinery,
metal forming presses,
die casting and plastic processing machinery, and CNC systems and bearings. HMT is headquartered at
Bengaluru
Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...
(Bangalore).
Technology was absorbed in all product groups through collaborations with world-renowned manufacturers and further strengthened by continuous in-house
R&D.
Today, HMT consists of six
subsidiaries
A subsidiary, subsidiary company or daughter company is a company owned or controlled by another company, which is called the parent company or holding company. Two or more subsidiaries that either belong to the same parent company or having a sa ...
under the ambit of a holding company, which also manages the tractor business directly.
HMT Limited took over
Praga Tools Limited as one of its subsidiaries 1988. Praga Tools Limited was established in May 1943 as Praga Tools Corporation Limited to manufacture machine tools with its headquarters at
Secunderabad
Secunderabad, also spelled as Sikandarabad (, ), is a twin cities, twin city of Hyderabad and one of the six zones of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Telangana. It ...
. It was renamed as Praga Tools Limited in 1963. It is mainly involved in
manufacture of machine tools, including CNC machines.
Watch division

HMT set up a watch manufacturing Unit at Bangalore in collaboration with M/s Citizen Watch Co., Japan in 1961. The first batch of mechanical (hand wound) wrist watches manufactured here was released by the then Prime Minister of India,
Jawaharlal Nehru. The most popular mechanical watch was HMT Janata. Other mechanical watch styles included HMT Pilot, HMT Jhalak (Semi Skeletal), HMT Sona, HMT Braille.
In 1972, HMT expanded its watch manufacturing capacity with a set up alongside the Bangalore Factory to manufacture additional watches. In 1975, the watch factory at Bangalore was further expanded to manufacture main spring, hair spring and shock absorber components.
HMT set up additional manufacturing facilities to produce watch components sets at Tumkur in 1978 and at Ranibagh in 1985. The factory at Tumkur was partially converted to manufacture quartz analog watches in collaboration with M/S Citizen Watch Co, Japan. To cater to the niche market, a specialised watch case manufacturing facility was set up at Bangalore in 1983.
Since 1985, HMT Watches had been involved in making floral clocks, solar clocks, international clocks and tower locks, most popular among them being the garden clock in Bangalore. In the year 2000, HMT Watch Business group was re-structured as HMT Watches Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of HMT Limited.
In September 2014, the
Government of India shut down HMT operations in a phased manner. By late 2016, the website for HMT watches was taken down.
Takeover
In September 2016,
Government of India closed some divisions of HMT: HMT Watches Ltd, HMT Bearings, HMT Tractors, and HMT Chinar Watches Ltd. The main reasons were that the company was making losses for more than a decade. During 2012–13, the company had losses of ₹242
crore
A crore (; abbreviated cr) denotes ten million (10,000,000 or 107 in scientific notation) and is equal to 100 lakh in the Indian numbering system. It is written as 1,00,00,000 with the local 2,2,3 style of digit group separators (one lakh is e ...
on revenues of only ₹11 crore. In contrast, competitor
Titan
Titan most often refers to:
* Titan (moon), the largest moon of Saturn
* Titans, a race of deities in Greek mythology
Titan or Titans may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
Fictional entities
Fictional locations
* Titan in fiction, fictiona ...
's watch business reported sales of ₹1,675 crore during the same year. The government also tried restructuring it in 1999 to improve its finances but the company continued to make losses. While in the 1980s several new companies entered the market with newer designs and more modern production techniques, HMT is said to have been hobbled by slow decision making and was unable to compete. Machine tools divisions of HMT in Bangalore, Hyderabad and Kochi (Kalamassery) are still operational and catering industrial and defence sectors of India and abroad. The Government of India is mulling takeover of HMT by
Ordnance Factory Board.
Operating units

HMT Limited had 18 manufacturing units. The constituent subsidiaries are given below while the holding company retains the tractors business group.
HMT's tractor business commenced its operations in 1971 in technical collaboration with M/s
MOTOKOV,
Czechoslovakia. HMT started the operation with the manufacture of 25
HP tractor at the manufacturing plant in
Pinjore, Haryana state. Over the years, it has developed tractors ranging from 25 HP to 75 HP.
Machine tools divisions of HMT is still continuing its operations and introducing state of the art technologies in Indian industrial market. The Kochi unit has entered manufacturing equipments for Indian Naval defence sector by manufacturing Directing Gear systems.
References
{{Authority control
Watchmaking conglomerates
Government-owned companies of India
Machine tool builders
Manufacturing companies based in Bangalore
Indian companies established in 1953
Watch movement manufacturers
Watch manufacturing companies of India
Indian brands
1953 establishments in Mysore State
Companies listed on the National Stock Exchange of India
Companies listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange