HINDUSTAN MACHINE TOOLS [H.M.T] ; ONCE UPON A TIME IN KASHMIR

Coming out of a long phase of imperialism, time arrived for a nation to redeem its pledge, already making a tryst with its destiny. An urge to succeed in the upcoming phase and stay on the world map forced the country to take vigorous initiatives in the fields of industry, agriculture, infra-structure and other such core sectors. Major focus was concentrated over the industrial sector to build an indigenous, import-independent and self-reliant economy.

To accomplish the vital task of building machine tools in order to industrialize the country, H.M.T was entrusted this crucial job, leading to the birth of first machine tool factory in 1953, set up in Bangalore. The vision to bring in a sense of time consciousness among the people generated the pace for setting up a watch manufacturing industry within the country in collaboration with Citizen Watch Corporation, Japan in 1961. Being the first manufacturer of wrist watches, H.M.T successfully absorbed the challenge of manufacturing new precision technology for mass production. As this tryst with firsts continued, demand and popularity of the watches made the company to expand its domains in Srinagar in 1972 with the entire technical know-how from H.M.T engineers.

H.M.T watches started ticking in the valley marking the first step towards industrialization and prosperity in the state. Employing the local talent in company with the engineering staff from Banglore, the time-keepers of the nation started blooming on the soil of Kashmir.

The legendary manufacturer of the time machines ruled the wrists and hearts of people for years. Much more than a time-tracking device, an H.M.T watch was considered as the most valued possession and keeping it became the tradition of families. This closest-to-heart possession transferred from generation to generation. One could feel it a pride to gift an H.M.T watch on auspicious occasions like marriages due to its standard quality, life- long durability and compact design.

Going through such a favorable phase in the market arena, who would have thought such a resilient industry would face a terrible future. Residing among the other competitors in the market, H.M.T somewhere failed to understand the fact that besides the machines to track time, watches are slowly becoming a fashion statement. The downfall of the unit began after the killing of its General Manager, H.L. Khera in 1990 by some extremists. This downfall started gaining momentum when the technicians from outside the state, forming the major chunk of the employees started to leave.

The condition of the unit became pathetic after its efforts to launch new designs and models also failed resulting in a complete halt on the production due to shortage of working capital. Adding to the consequences, unending curfews and shutdowns left the unit paralyzed for a long span of time. On the other hand, due to very competitive market and launching of new designs by other counter-parts, the company suffered continuous losses since 2000. According to ‘Business Standard’, the unit faced a mammoth loss of 50 crores during two successive years of 2007-2008. The employees had to wait months for salaries due to declined production rate. Undue circumstances forced majority of the employees to opt for V.R.S accounting almost 14 crores to the losses. The company was unable to generate enough revenue to meet the expenses leaving no option but to shut down the unit.

This brought an end to the era of ticking watches all around, running H.M.T out of time. Thereby, the first attempt taken by the central government to industrialize the state failed. Moreover, lack of efforts by the governing bodies to pull H.M.T out of the glut sprinkled more salt on the wounds of employees. To stabilize the things, necessary measures were required to be taken to revive and redefine such an exemplary organization which had all the ingredients to succeed. Possessing workstations incorporated with Japanese technology, retail network, technical staff and immense manpower, it was not anymore difficult for the governing bodies to save the sinking ship of  H.M.T.

One could get extremely sentimental on seeing how thousands of people got unemployed at a time and how an outstanding unit was brought to extinction. It is extremely difficult to accept the fact that the workstations of H.M.T which once occupied sophisticated machinery of Japan are now being used as a cantonment by the paramilitary forces.

Raqib Qayoom is pursuing Mechanical Engineering in S.S.M college of Engg. & Tech.