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Chevrolet came to India in 1903. An office was set up in Bombay with an assembly plant constructed in Sewree. General Motors was the first automobile company to open an assembly plant in India. Vehicle Production started in 1928 with the National Series AB Touring. In 1952-53 the ‘socialist’ Indian Government forced General Motors India to shut shop, along with other foreign car companies.[1] However, in 2003 Chevrolet Sales India was established and the Chevrolet brand was re-launched in India. It replaced Opel as the only brand offering by General Motors India Private Limited.

Tata Motors (which was TELCO earlier) collaborated with Daimler-Benz to manufacture trucks in India, and the first truck was rolled out within 6 months. The deal was for 15 years during which Tata could use Benz engine and had to put the Benz logo in front grill. It was popularly called the “Tata-Mercedes-Benz” truck (TMB) and was considered to be of superior quality by the industry. In 1969, when the JV with Benz came to an end, Tata started using its engine (which was a replica of Benz engine). By then, Tata had also opened up its research centre paving way for a series of trucks from the Tata stable over the next few decades. Although Tata ended the Benz deal in 1969, it retained the same chassis and shape. So from the outside, it looked like the Benz logo was replaced by Tata. Notice the curvature of front Bonnet and the round headlight. In 1977, they launched a much sophisticated truck and changed the front design which embedded rectangular headlights in front (unlike the round ones which used to protrude out) and the bonnet was much wider. It comes under Tata S series (1210S) and there were improvements for subsequent versions like SE (1210SE) and so on.

Established in 1897 Ardeshir Godrej 1897: Godrej & Boyce Mfg. Co Ltd is established. Ardeshir Godrej (in photo) starts manufacturing high-security locks, under the brand name Anchor 1902: Company starts building safes as well 1909: Ardeshir Godrej invents the springless lock, gets a patent, for it under the seal of King Edward VII 1932: Godrej & Boyce is incorporated as a limited liability company. Ardeshir dies in 1936 1951: Company secures order to manufacture 900,000 ballot boxes for independent India’s fi rst general elections Jawaharlal Nehru 1955: Godrej & Boyce manufactures the first Indian typewriter. Jawaharlal Nehru types using a Godrej typewriter 1958: Godrej & Boyce, in collaboration with GE, manufactures India’s fi rst refrigerator 1963: Godrej & Boyce makes the fi rst forklift Truck in India in collaboration with Clarke Material Handling Company, US 1965: Godrej & Boyce opens a factory in Malaysia to manufacture offi ce equipment Pirojsha Godrej 1972: Pirojsha Godrej, Ardeshir’s brother, consolidator of the Godrej empire, dies   1997: Special postage stamp released to commemorate 100 years of Godrej’s existence He got three patents for his innovations in safe making, which also changed the way safes were made across the world. Adi Godrej, the group chairman today, says his grandfather Pirojsha and Ardeshir were staunch believers in swadeshi. “They felt if India wasn’t economically independent, political independence would be difficult.” Before he got into safes in 1902, Ardeshir was already manufacturing locks in a small shed in Lalbaug, in central Mumbai since 1897. He invented in 1909 – and won another patent for it – a lock without springs, which was more difficult to pick than the locks in use, and also told its owner if it had been tampered with. More than a century later, security is big business for Godrej, which has separate entities called Godrej Locks and Godrej Security Solutions. The latter manufactures not only the renowned safes, but also substance detectors, baggage scanners and biometric access systems. The company is among India’s top private defence suppliers – making precision tracking systems to rocket engines. An advertisement for India’s first refrigerator made by Godrej & Boyce. The swadeshi spirit continued into the second generation. Pirojsha’s son, Naval Godrej, who inherited Godrej & Boyce, decided to take on the foreign typewriter manufacturers. In a market dominated by Remington and Halda, in 1955, he launched the Godrej typewriter, the first to be manufactured in India, which quickly made its mark. Out of a total of 1,800 parts in the typewriter, just four were imported. “When Prime Minister [Jawaharlal] Nehru typed on it [a Godrej typewriter] for the first time, the nation received the message that India was taking its place among the few highly industrialised countries of Europe and U S ,” writes Karanjia. Technology has sent the typewriter to the scrapyard – even Godrej stopped manufacturing it in 2009 – but the company continues its presence in the same space. Pirojsha Godrej inspects the estate he bought in Vikhroli, Mumbai, where the Godrej Group is now headquartered. Electronic typewriters, fax machines, word processor and dot matrix printers were all first brought into the country by Godrej. Godrej refrigerators were also once just as prized as the typewriters, safes and locks. The company was one of the early manufacturers of refrigerators in India, starting in 1958 with one priced at Rs 1,885. Karanjia’s book says Godrej refrigerators have been upgraded every year since 1987, with the latest technology being quickly incorporated. This May, Godrej Appliances – one of the mother company’s 18 arms contributing 20 per cent to its revenues and manufacturer of refrigerators, launched one that included a built-in FM radio and an MP3 player. It is a family business that exudes stolidity and stability. All its companies have been in the business for at least two decades. Godrej Material Handling began in 1963 when the company made the country’s first forklift truck. Godrej Interio began manufacturing furniture in 1923 with the Godrej Storewel cupboard. Godrej Precision Systems made its debut in 1985 and makes high precision spacecraft components. “This is the advantage of a family-run business,” says Adi. “It can look at longterm value creation. Businesses run by professionals alone tend to be more short-term in their view.”

History of the Swadesi soaps: Godrej No.1, No. 2 and Vatani… Interesting piece by Himani Chanda in The Print. She tells us how Godrej entered the field of soap making and used the swadesi appeal to sell their products: It was in 1906 when the Indian National Congress, prompted by its leader Lokmanya Tilak and industrialist Ardeshir Godrej among others, promised to introduce the swadeshi element into the production of soaps. Ardeshir Godrej, a lawyer-turned-serial entrepreneur, along with his brother Pirojsha Burjorji co-founded the Godrej & Boyce manufacturing company, which is now a $4.54 billion Indian conglomerate called Godrej Group. A decade later, the Mysore and Madras governments set up soap factories and by 1918, Ardeshir Godrej had launched the company’s washing soap bar. “He (Ardeshir) went on to experiment with the idea of making toilet soaps from vegetable oils instead of animal fats as was the accepted practice in most countries since the beginning of soap manufacture,” according to the archives of the company. In 1920, the first toilet soap made from vegetable oil was ready for commercial sales. It was known as “No. 2”. Ardeshir introduced another soap brand in 1922, named “No.1”. While it’s not entirely clear why Ardeshir first launched a product named No.2 and then No.1, it was nevertheless quite certain that he had mastered the art of making soaps with two back-to-back stints. “Ardeshir now wanted to focus on expanding the soap business, and so left the manufacturing of locks and safes to his brother Pirojsha,” says the company on its website. Then came another soap – Turkish Bath – in 1926. But the most popular in the line of soaps Godrej produced in those years was ‘Vatni‘ because by then, the company had become stable and learned the trick on how to brand its soap bars. Vatani’s brand ambassador was none other than Madhubala. Godrej used “Made in India” back then: The brand was launched in an era – in the late 1920s or early 1930s – when the fight for free India was at its peak and Indians had boycotted the goods produced by British companies in the wake of the British government’s decision to divide Bengal. Vatni was one among the many brands that were born when ‘Made in India’ or Swadeshi movement encouraged entrepreneurs to take risks and launch products for Indians. For instance, in 1907, sharbat (drink) Rooh Afza was launched by a Unani hakeem(doctor) Hafiz Abdul Majeed under the brand name Hamdard. Vatni witnessed the hard-won freedom of the country and went on to become the popular “swadeshi” soap used by people in independent India. In order to encourage Indians to buy the soap bar, Godrej wrapped its product in green and white packaging with words that read: “Made in India, for Indians, by Indians.” The wrapper of the soap carried the map of undivided India for many years even after Independence and the country’s Partition. Yesteryear actress Madhubala promoted the brand in posters and print advertisements with the punchline: “It’s superior, it’s swadeshi.”

History of the Swadesi soaps: Godrej No.1, No. 2 and Vatani… Interesting piece by Himani Chanda in The Print. She tells us how Godrej entered the field of soap making and used the swadesi appeal to sell their products: It was in 1906 when the Indian National Congress, prompted by its leader Lokmanya Tilak and industrialist Ardeshir Godrej among others, promised to introduce the swadeshi element into the production of soaps. Ardeshir Godrej, a lawyer-turned-serial entrepreneur, along with his brother Pirojsha Burjorji co-founded the Godrej & Boyce manufacturing company, which is now a $4.54 billion Indian conglomerate called Godrej Group. A decade later, the Mysore and Madras governments set up soap factories and by 1918, Ardeshir Godrej had launched the company’s washing soap bar. “He (Ardeshir) went on to experiment with the idea of making toilet soaps from vegetable oils instead of animal fats as was the accepted practice in most countries since the beginning of soap manufacture,” according to the archives of the company. In 1920, the first toilet soap made from vegetable oil was ready for commercial sales. It was known as “No. 2”. Ardeshir introduced another soap brand in 1922, named “No.1”. While it’s not entirely clear why Ardeshir first launched a product named No.2 and then No.1, it was nevertheless quite certain that he had mastered the art of making soaps with two back-to-back stints. “Ardeshir now wanted to focus on expanding the soap business, and so left the manufacturing of locks and safes to his brother Pirojsha,” says the company on its website. Then came another soap – Turkish Bath – in 1926. But the most popular in the line of soaps Godrej produced in those years was ‘Vatni‘ because by then, the company had become stable and learned the trick on how to brand its soap bars. Vatani’s brand ambassador was none other than Madhubala. Godrej used “Made in India” back then: The brand was launched in an era – in the late 1920s or early 1930s – when the fight for free India was at its peak and Indians had boycotted the goods produced by British companies in the wake of the British government’s decision to divide Bengal. Vatni was one among the many brands that were born when ‘Made in India’ or Swadeshi movement encouraged entrepreneurs to take risks and launch products for Indians. For instance, in 1907, sharbat (drink) Rooh Afza was launched by a Unani hakeem(doctor) Hafiz Abdul Majeed under the brand name Hamdard. Vatni witnessed the hard-won freedom of the country and went on to become the popular “swadeshi” soap used by people in independent India. In order to encourage Indians to buy the soap bar, Godrej wrapped its product in green and white packaging with words that read: “Made in India, for Indians, by Indians.” The wrapper of the soap carried the map of undivided India for many years even after Independence and the country’s Partition. Yesteryear actress Madhubala promoted the brand in posters and print advertisements with the punchline: “It’s superior, it’s swadeshi.”  

The Agfa Isola was a line of medium format viewfinder cameras made by Agfa in Germany. [1] There were three models, original Isola, Isola I and Isola II. All models use 120 roll film for 6x6cm frames. The lens is collapsible; once extended, it was turned to lock back in storage position. The shutter release is interlocked with the lens extension and you can only engage the shutter when the lens is extended. Winding on the film is also required as the Isola feature a double exposure guard. when the indicator above shutter-button is red you cannot take an exposure and it means you have to wind on to the next frame. It’s a handy feature but you can’t disengage it so voluntary double exposures are not possible. The lens Agfa Agnar, (on the Isola II), is a simple triplet design capable of taking good and fairly sharp photographs. It has blue coatings (visible on the picture above).  It’s somewhat prone to lens flare, a lens hood is certainly not a luxury with this camera. For aperture you can choose between f6.3 and f11. Focus is obtained by means of turning the front element with help of a distance scale (usually in meters, although scales in both feet and metres exist for export models), to use it effectively you either need a good eye or a decent additional rangefinder. Sometimes this method of focus is also nicknamed “The Guess-O-Matic“. The Isola is a fairly decent camera, it’s certainly more advanced than its predecessors like the Agfa Click-I, Agfa Click-II and Agfa Clack and it has a better lens assembly than those cameras. There are two other cameras with the name Isola which unrelated with the original Isola series: Agfa Isola 22 and Isola 44. Isola Isola Produced in 1955 Agfa Isola name on the upper part of the lens-shutter barrel With the introduction of the more basic Isola I in 1957, the name of the Isola changed to Isola II without any technical or major external changes. The only difference: the Agfa logo of the Isola is on left lower part of the camera’s front leatherette, but on the front plate of Isola

For several generations of Indians, stepping out in the rain meant wearing a Duckback — boots or raincoat. It’s a story that has survived many monsoons * Surendra Mohan Bose set up the company as in 1920 on his return from the US after learning about waterproofing techniques as a chemical engineering student * His eldest son Debabrata, in the mid-’60s, got the Duckback logo designed by artist Ranen Ayan Dutt * Current chairman OP Saxena acquired the company in 2014 The raincoat-clad school-goer walks through the shower and muddy puddles in her rubber boots, a waterproof school bag on her shoulder. Ask her if she knows about Surendra Mohan Bose, and she is likely to look surprised. What about Duckback? Ah, that’s a name she knows: Her raingear is all from the Kolkata company. For generations, Duckback has served as an effective rain guard. The company has seen a change of hands in recent years, but Duckback is a name that Indians continue to connect with the monsoon — a century after the company was set up. “The goodwill of the brand and stringent quality measures have ensured that our products are in demand. We market them through a strong network across India — from Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka to Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand and the North-East,” says chairman Om Prakash Saxena, who was a financial consultant for Bengal Waterproof Limited, as the Duckback company was named in 1982. After Saxena acquired the company in 2014, it was rechristened Duckback Waterproof Works Private Limited. The company has gone through its crests and troughs. Bose set it up as sole proprietorship in 1920 on his return from the US after learning about waterproofing techniques as a chemical engineering student. In 1932, when his three brothers joined him as business partners, he turned it into a private limited company. Curiously, though its products are known as Duckback, the term did not figure in the company’s names. In 1940, it was set up as the Bengal Waterproof Works (1940) Limited, a public limited company, at their Nazar Ali Lane house in Kolkata. Family lore has it that Bose, after returning from the US, was drawn into the freedom movement, and decided to channel his training abroad to make rainwear affordable for Indians. As the demand for Duckback products increased, Bose acquired a 22-acre plot in Panihati in North 24 Parganas, West Bengal, for a factory that could handle bulk production. It produced rainwear, boots, hot water bottles, ice bags, gloves and anti-bedsore and hospital sheets. It also manufactured mining boots, pontoon bridges and anti-gravity suits that fighter plane pilots had to wear. Over the years, brand Duckback lived up to the idiomatic expression — water off a duck’s back — from which the name was coined. Following Bose’s demise in 1948, his son Debabrata — the eldest of six siblings — inherited the company. Insiders say that Debabrata had completed his schooling from Darjeeling and was in England, studying rubber technology, when he had to come back home and take over the company. It was he who, in the mid-’60s, got the Duckback logo designed by artist Ranen Ayan Dutt. “The story goes that after much cajoling by Debabrata Bose, Dutt decided to complete the long pending task one evening and created the logo of four water droplets,” says former company secretary Tuhinangsu Roy. Former sales manager Bratin Ghosh, who was with the company for 35 years from 1975, describes Debabrata Bose as a “methodical, meticulous and compassionate human being with a laser-like focus on quality but no appetite for risk”. Every morning, he would sift through his mail to see how the company was faring, Ghosh recalls. “He personally oversaw complaints, and that is how we maintained quality standards.” The company’s golden period was possibly from 1989 to 1995. “The turnover of the company peaked from ₹18 crore to ₹51 crore in that span,” says the then managing director Indranil Biswas, who stresses that he was mentored from 1973 by the owner as well as SK Das, a core team member. “We worked as a team to undertake the first modernisation programme, opted for product diversification and further restructuring, off-season discounts and planned expansion. We introduced PVC footwear with a leather-look and other such products,” Biswas recalls. The downturn began post liberalisation in the ’90s. “Competition was tough and we started losing our retail market to Chinese products. People’s preferences began to change. They preferred the lighter, cheaper, use-and-throw type products which we weren’t able to manufacture,” explains Roy. With time, rubber costs spiked, overhead costs increased and there was a shortage of working capital. There was no succession planning either. Debabrata Bose was a bachelor and family feuds prevented the next generation from moving in. “As there was no succession planning, the company was mismanaged and finally sold off,” Roy says. Saxena had earlier told the BusinessLine that at the time of takeover, Bengal Waterproof had a debt of around ₹85 crore, and a labour liability of ₹17-18 crore. “We settled the entire liability of Bengal Waterproof by investing around ₹100 crore and took over the company in 2014,” he had said. The company now has two factories — one in Ranchi registered under Duckback India Limited and another in Barasat in North 24 Parganas. It has a branch in Delhi, three manufacturing units in Kolkata and one in Mumbai under the management of fabricators with Duckback controlling quality, Saxena says. “While we are focused on the same products that Duckback is famous for, we are also looking at footwear products, and in terms of material both rubber and PVC to move with the times. In FY18-19, we had a turnover of ₹75 crore,” he says with pride. Duckback, indeed, is waddling back.