Formerly known as Mather and Platt (India), MPIL Corporation Limited was incorporated in 1959. The name of the company was changed to the present one in January 2006. MATPLAND, a member of the Jumbo Group, was originally promoted jointly by Mather & Platt, UK and Greaves Cotton to establish a manufacturing facility to produce calender bowls for the textile industry. The company also manufactures textile finishing machinery, stenter clips, centrifugal pumps, electric motors, food processing & canning machinery and fire protection & detection equipment. The company has discontinued its activities relating to design, development, and installation and servicing of textile and food machinery, etc. The company`s plants are located in Kidderpore, Calcutta; Gokul-Shirgaon Kolhapur; Chinchwad and Pune.
Milestones:
• 1959 - The Company was incorporated on 6th August, as a private limited company. The company manufactures calender bowls for textile industries, textile finishing machinery, stenter clips, centrifugal pumps, electric motors, food processing and canning machinery and fire protection and detection equipment. The company was jointly promoted by Mather & Platt Ltd, U.K. and Greaves Cotton & Co. Ltd. It became a public limited company on 19th April 1961. The company set up a factory at Chinchwad near Pune (Maharashtra state) for the manufacture of calender bowls for the textile industry. It expanded its business operations and undertook manufacture of textile finishing machinery, stenter clips, centrifugal pumps, electric motors and food processing and canning machinery. The Calcutta branch set up a factory in Calcutta for the manufacture of fire-proof doors in 1940. In order to reduce the percentage of its non-resident shareholding, Mather & Platt Ltd, U.K. submitted to the Reserve Bank of India the following proposals to reorganise its business interests in India and in the process to Indianise the Company. (a) that Mather & Platt Ltd, U.K., be permitted to purchase the entire shareholding of Greaves Cotton & Co. Ltd., in the company, temporarily making the company a wholly owned subsidiary of Mather & Platt Ltd, U.K. (b) that the entire business and undertaking in India of Mather & Platt Ltd, U.K, would be then transferred to and vested in the company and thereafter the company would be Indianised.
• 1978 - Upon the aforesaid transfer being affected, MPIL Corporation changed its name from Mather Greaves Ltd, to Mather & Platt (India) Ltd, effective from 9th March. The company subdivided its shares of Rs 100 each into shares of Rs 10 each on 5th June. Effective from 5th June, the company reconverted itself into a private limited company.
• 1979 - The company was again reconverted into a public limited company on 14th June. The objective of the public issue of capital during July-August was to reduce the non-resident holding in the company to a level not exceeding 60% by 30th September.
• 1980 - At Chinchwad, an extensive scheme of modernisation was taken up. Mather & Platt Ltd, UK, granted a licence to the company to use its name for identifying the company's products and as a part of the company's corporate name. Mather & Platt Ltd, UK, also agreed to allow the company to use its trade marks registered in India in respect of various types of pumps and fire protection systems without charging royalties or fees.
• 1986 - The company commissioned large circulating water pumps for Mettur Thermal Power Station in Tamil Nadu. The food machinery division received necessary approval for acquisition of technology for the manufacture of a new type of filling machines.
• 1987 - Erection of three 36 verticles for NFC Bhatinda and two 48/48 split casing pumps for MSEB at Parli Power station were also carried out. The textile machinery department and food machinery department did not fare well because of recessionary trends in the textile industry and failure of the monsoon. The company executed an order for washing and soaping range for Vietnam and commissioned a range of finishing machines despatch to Rwanda.
• 1988 - Among large installations, an electronic fire alarm and control system at Visakhapatnam Steel plant and a complete fire protection system on large LPG installations for public sector oil companies were commissioned. Under project development programme, a large size multistage mine drainage pump was developed and installed in Dhanbad collieries. A new collaboration agreement was entered into to produce a new type of stenter having good potential for export market. To further strengthen the base of the overseas market, MPIL Corporation decided to set up a representative office in Nairobi, Kenya.
• 1989 - A technical collaboration agreement was signed with Firetek Corporation, USA for the manufacture of smoke detectors. The pump division developed high efficiency end-section pumps and the product was launched in the market. With a view to enlarge the technological base, an agreement was signed with Termomeccanica Italiana, Italy for collaboration on pumping equipment for large projects for the core sector industries i.e. of power, fertilizers and petro-chemicals. Another agreement was signed with Thyssen Machinenbau of West Germany for the manufacture of newer range of pump products.
• 1990 - The fire engineering group developed new type of electro-pneumatic heat detector, butterfly type deluge valve, remote controlled water/foam monitors for specialized applications, dry-chemical skid, etc. The fluid engineering group supplied installed and commissioned circulating waterpumps at the 500 MW Chandrapur Power Stations for the Maharashtra State Electricity Board. Also, three large multi-stage mini drainage pumps were developed and supplied to BCCL for its Bhalgora mine. The textile machinery division developed a yarn sizing machine and a multi-layer stenter.
• 1991 - The first yarn sizing machine was commissioned and thermobonding calender required by the non woven industry was manufactured at the textile machinery division. At the food machinery division, an advanced design of mushroom canning and aluminium foil heat sealing machines for polyjars as also machinery for lime processing and Oleoraisin plants were manufactured. The fire engineering division developed ionization type smoke detector with technology serve as an import substitution product. During the year, the company received orders on a turnkey basis for water supply pumps from Hyderabad Metro -- a World Bank aided project. Eleven large vertical 1650 KW circulating water pumps were supplied to Neyveli Lignite Corporation and high head water supply pumps, generating 880 metres of water column were manufactured for Mizoram. Also, the first batch from an order for seismically qualified process pumps was supplied to Nuclear Power Corporation. The overall working of the company, however, suffered owing to increase in interest costs, abolition of export cash incentive and increase in effective tax rate. Gilbert Investments Ltd, promoted as an investment company to deal in shares, stocks, debentures, bonds of any government, company, corporation and financial institution, became a wholly-owned subsidiary of the company during the year.
• 1994 - The company supplied three off large vertical pumps for the Karnataka Power Corporation; four off 1250 KW filtered water pumps to the Bangalore Water Supply and off high head water supply pumps for a hill city in Mizoram. The fire sharping machine was commissioned at the textile machinery division. The textiles machinery division entered into the field of stenter manufacturing and also secured the first order for a hot air stenter.
• 1995 - Various new products that were introduced by the division were Lime Oil Extraction Plant, Chilli Processing, Mushroom Processing, Canning, Dehydration Units Onion/Garlic, Onion Peeler, Warping and an energy efficient hot air stenter.
• 2002 - Vidya M Chhabria appointed as chairperson of Mather & Platt.
• 2004 - Mather & Platt Ltd (M&P), an engineering company of the Jumbo Group, has firmed up a collaboration with VAG of Germany, a global leader in valve technology.