Kirloskar Brothers Limited (KBL), a part of the century old Kirloskar Group was incorporated on 15 January, 1920. The Company is one of India's pioneering industrial organisations in the engineering sector. The Company undertakes projects in fluid-handling, turnkey fluid-handling projects in irrigation, power, process, water supply and sewerage, turnkey small hydel projects and protective surface coating. The core products of the Company are Engineered Pumps, Industrial Pumps, Agriculture and Domestic Pumps, Valves, and Hydro Turbines. Presently, the Company is engaged in providing fluid management solutions globally.
Two new joint venture companies were incorporated, viz., Kirloskar Rateau Ltd., a 100% export oriented unit in India and Rateau Kirloskar international, Paris as a marketing company in co-operation with Alsthom Atlantique of Paris. Hence it became a subsidiary of the Company since its incorporation on 23rd April, 1984. In 1986, the company had entered into foreign collaboration agreements with M/s. Oil Tool Specialities Co., U.S.A., for the manufacture of Christmas trees and conventional wellhead assembles and with M/s. Godiva Fire Pumps Ltd, U.K., for the manufacture of fire fightings pumps and also with M/s. Nikkiso Co Ltd., Japan for the manufacture of canned motor pumps. The mobile fire fighting pump sets manufactured in technical collaboration with Godiva Fire Pumps Ltd. U.K. was well received in the market during the year 1988. In the year 1991, the plant for manufacturing submersible pumps under licence from Ebara Italia S.P.A. was erected in Shindewad, near Shirwal. KBL made technical collaborations with world-renowned companies in the year 1994 for manufacture of pumps, machine tools and hermetic compressors. Also in the same year the company received the Export Excellence Award from the Government of India for the seventh year in a row.
In 1995, KBL had signed a technical collaboration agreement with Corrocoat Ltd. U.K. for the manufacture of anti-corrosion coatings for pumps. For the gateway to enter the power generation sector, the company has signed a co-operation and Technology Transfer agreement with Finmeccahica S.p.A. Azienda Ansaldo of Italy in the period of 1996 for manufacture of steam turbines. During the year 1997-98, the company inaugurated its Anti Corrosion coating plant at Kirloskarvadi with capacity of 150 TPA. In 1998-99, the company tied up with one of the world leaders in hydro-turbines-Ebara Corporation, Japan to offer turnkey execution facilities. KBL has entered into a distribution agreement with Erhard Gmbh and Co, Germany during the year 1999 and also the Toyota-Kirloskar, the 50:50 joint venture between Toyota and the company was sets up its first service station-cum-showroom at Goregoan in suburban Mumbai. In the year 2001, the company bagged two orders worth of Rs 519 crore, included Sardar Sarovar Nigam's Rs 442-crore contract to manufacture and commission pump stations in Saurashtra. During the year 2003, KBL had acquired certain assets and businesses of the UK-based SPP Pumps Ltd, a part of Thyssen Bornemiscza Group and also in the same year the company invested 19,50,000 GBP (Rs 14,90,77,500) in the share capital of a JV Company incorporated in the United Kingdom. KBL and Hindustan Construction Company Ltd (HCC) had jointly submitted a bid for Devadula, Godavari lift Irrigation Scheme of Government of Andhra Pradesh in the year 2004. The Contract was awarded to HCC and the company as joint bidders.
The company bagged contract worth 1240 million in the year 2004, also bagged an order worth Rs 41,40,00,000 from Bharatiya Nabhikiya Vidyut Nigam Ltd acting through Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd, Mumbai for design, drawing, manufacture and supply etc of 3 primary sodium pumps, its spares and accessories and launched its new generation submersible pump Champion 2'. During the year 2005-2006, the company had hived off its Anti-Corrosive Product Division to form a joint venture Company with Corrocoat Ltd. -UK. The operations of this new company 'Kirloskar Corrocoat Private Limited' commenced from 1st April of the year 2006. During the period of 2006-07, the company had acquired 100% shares of Aban Constructions Pvt Ltd; a Chennai based company belongs to a reputed Aban Group, which engaged in oil and gas croos country pipelines and other construction activities. In September of the year 2007, KBL took over the management of The Kolhapur Steel (TKSL), a steel casting company, registered with the BIFR.
KBL had received a letter of intent (LoI) from the Government of Andhra Pradesh, Irrigation & CAD Department during April of the year 2008 with respect of Rajiv Sagar Lift Irrigation Project (Dummugudem) for Rs 3.38 billion and in May of the same year 2008, KBL had bagged contracts from the Nuclear Power Corporation of India A/c Bhartiya Nabhikiya Vidyut Nigam of Rs 992.4 million and Euro 1.814 million for civil works and Electochiorination plants building and associates structures for sea water pump house package. As at July 2008, Kirloskar Brothers through its investment company namely Kirloskar Brothers International BV had formed a subsidiary company in Netherlands under the name and style as Kirloskar Brothers Europe B. V.
A Scheme of Arrangement between the Company and Kirloskar Brothers Investments Limited (KBIL) and their respective shareholders, became effective on March 2, 2010, and a result certain investments in shares held by the Company were transferred and vested in Kirloskar Brothers Investments Limited.
During the year 2010, the Company ceased to be subsidiary company of Better Value Holdings Private Limited, one of the promoters and a Kirloskar group Company. On acquisition of additional shares, with effect from November 12, 2009, Kirloskar Corrocoat Private
Limited, Hematic Motors Private Limited, Pressmatic Electro Stampings Private Limited and Quadromatic Engineering Private Limited have become direct subsidiaries of the company alongwith Hematic Motors Private Limited's subsidiaries viz. ILa Electricals Private Limited, Vakasa Electricals Private Limited and Moreshwar Electricals Private Limited. On issue of shares in terms of Scheme of Arrangement, as approved by the Hon'ble High court of Judicature at Bombay, by Kirloskar Brothers Investments Limited (KBIL) to the shareholders of the Company, KBIL ceased to be a subsidiary company of Kirloskar Brothers Limited. Simultaneously, 50000
KBIL equity shares held by KBL also stand cancelled; on transfer of investments in Pooja Credits Private Limited and Kirloskar Silk Industries Limited held by Kirloskar Brothers Limited (KBL) to KBIL, these companies also ceased to be subsidiaries of KBL. On February 15, 2010, KBL sold shares held in its Wholly Owned Subsidiary SPP Pumps Limited (SPP) to its other Wholly Owned Subsidiary - Kirloskar Brothers International B.V (KBI) Netherlands. Thus SPP ceased to be the direct subsidiary company of KBL.
Micawber 784 (Proprietary) Ltd., Kirloskar Brothers Limited's step down subsidiary through WOS Company, Kirloskar Brothers International B.V. (KBI BV), Netherlands, acquired balance 10% holding in Braybar Pumps (Proprietary) Ltd. (Braybar) on November 1, 2012. As a result, Braybar became 100% subsidiary of Micawber 784 (Proprietary) Ltd.
The Company launched highly-advanced 'i-CAN' series of pumps, for the small scale industries, another product, 'i-NS' pump,
which has been developed entirely with domestic technology in 2015. In November 2015, it commissioned Godavari Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewage Board project costing Rs 50 crores. It launched GK-P Pump at ACHEMA in Frankfurt, Germany. It also unveiled the
technologically advanced ROMAK (RMK) Pump at ACHEMA in June 2015 which is used for handling clean chemical liquids.
The BHIMA LIS Telangana Project was commissioned in 2016-17. The Company manufactured largest split case pump and developed Closed Coupled Magnetic Drive Pump Type RMKC. 5 new improved series of pumps were launched at Sanand Plant in 2017.
During 2017-18, Company commissioned largest bottom suction pump as a replacement to existing 80 years old make pump & motor at Kolkata Municipal Corporation. It commissioned vertical turbine pump at HNSS Pump Station in Andhra Pradesh. Kondhapuri plant completed development of larger size valves such as 2400 mm BFV, 1400 and 1800 mm turbine inlet valves, 1800 mm MDNRV etc. during the year.
The Company launched 14 variants in 4' submersible pump range and 10 variants in 6' and above range. In the surface pump range, total 4 models were launched including the Swimming Pool pump during 2018-19. Further, launched the Kirloskar Vertical Multi-stage (KVM) pump, which has been predominantly developed for use in RO plants, and the K-Kleen 25 technology. Concrete Volute pumps supplied for BMA Thailand project and pumps for Cooling Water and Auxiliary Cooling Water application for EGAT and Marubeni projects were commissioned. The Binh Bo Pumping Station project in Vietnam was commissioned and handed over during the
year 2018-19. A roof top solar power plant of 150 kW capacity was installed and its utilisation was started from June 2018 at Sanand Plant.
The Company launched new products such as K-Booster and Mini soc further extended its CMS pump series. During the period 2019-20, KBL extended the KVM pump range far Reverse Osmosis application. It commissioned pumps for various applications across some of India's landmark projects, like Kartarpur Corridor Terminal (Indian side), Statue of Unity, ISRO's Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station (TERLS), Thiruvananthapuram, and National Fire Service College - Nagpur (country's first fixed firefighting installation lab). It commissioned 5 vertical turbine pumps with 2350 kW motor rating at the South Bangkok Power plant.
During 2020-21, the Company installed BHR 70 M Single Stage External Water Lubricated VT Pumps for the Sundargarh Odisha Mega Lift Irrigation Project. FM/UL VT pumps and FM/UL Horizontal Pumps were installed at the Sino Thai / MRT Yellow & Pink Line Metro lines of the Bangkok Metro. It erected and commissioned pump sets for the National Services Projects Organization (Egyptian Army) for agricultural development of 7000 Feddan in TOSHKA Phase III, Egypt. It supplied firefighting pumps for new Supreme Court building of Mauritius. It commissioned fire fighting pumps inside the 9.02 km long Atal tunnel, above 1,000 ft.
During 2021-22, Company supplied 104 HYPN systems to HPCL's residential township in Barmer, Rajasthan; developed a new pump in horizontal execution for the IOCL 3G Ethanol project in the Oil & Gas segment; supplied large and medium-range VT pumps for projects in Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Orissa; supplied pumps for Haryana Lift Irrigation Schemes and UP Irrigation Dept (CESPO). It launched 53 variants of Monobloc pumps with IE4 Super Premium Efficiency motors and 16 variants of Monobloc pumps sets with Ultra-Premium Efficiency IE5 motors.
In FY 2022-23, the Company executed 132 Vertical Turbine (VT) pumps (Small VT, Medium VT, Large VT) and completed major irrigation projects in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Odisha. It introduced various new product series including the DBxe and GK series with superior efficiency for utility applications, the KW-LC series of Inline pumps for HVAC applications, and an extended range of pumps in the FM/UL series for firefighting market. The Company also developed a special 315 kW submersible pump type NS for the Russian market. The Company also focused on addressing offshore applications by developing various types and sizes of Butterfly Valves (BFV) and other specialized products for specific markets such as Oman and Naval Dockyards.
In 2023-24, the Company launched oil circulating pump for healthcare application; special motors for fire fighting application, up to 315 frame size; submersible turbine pump for fuel dispensing system; coalescer and priming tank assembly and vacuum pump. In the dynamic realm of water pumping technology, the Company has introduced the latest iteration of its renowned Lifter pumps series, meticulously crafted for shallow wells. The mini-series pump selection is further enhanced by the addition of the Aqua Torrent 10 FCL, as well as the Jalhasti and Jaltara 1 HP pumps and borewell oil-filled submersible pump (KU6i) to consolidate its position in agricultural and residential segments. For industrial segment, the Company has launched the vertical inline short-coupled pump set, the KW-SC, and an enhanced version of the DBxe SS pump. Apart from this, the Company contributed to the Shri Ram Mandir,
Ayodhya by supplying over 100 pumps for firefighting and water supply to Millions of devotees. Additionally, these pumps have
been used for fire protection systems in the New Parliament House and the Surat Diamond Bourse. The Company's contribution extends to public transportation infrastructure, having supplied pumps to the recently inaugurated Kolkata and Agra Metro projects. HVAC pumps also ensure cooling comfort to visitors of Yashobhoomi Convention Centre and Bharat Mandapam in Delhi. Recognising the critical role of nuclear energy in future, the Company has supplied moderator coolant pumps to the Kakrapar Nuclear Power Plant in Gujarat, and circulating Water Metallic Volute pumps to Rajasthan Atomic Power Plant. The group company, SPP Pumps Ltd. became the first company in the world to offer a Factory Mutual (FM) approved Multi-stage Multi-outlet pump set. This pump was specifically designed to provide reliable, efficient, and cost-effective fire protection for high-rise buildings. The Company further opened Authorised Pump set Original Equipment Manufacturer plants across the country.