2016-06-20 Mon

Lakshmanrao Kirloskar an Indian businessman and the founder of the Kirloskar was born on 20 June 1869. Today is his 147th Birth Anniversary.

Born in a small village of Belgaum, Lakshman Kirloskar was very fond of painting and mechanical objects. Successfully combined these two skills and set up his early career as an Assistant Teacher of Mechanical Drawing at VJTI.

Laxmanrao Kirloskar set up a small bicycle repair shop at Belgaum. This is how the Kirloskar saga began. He then began manufacturing of iron ploughs, the first Kirloskar product. Due to the superstitious farmers, it took him two years to sell one iron plough.

However, in 1910 Lakshman Rao started his factory in an arid wasteland His dream was to build his own industry and community for his employees. Lakshman Rao set up a model industrial colony called 'Kirloskravadi' and 'Kirloskar Brothers Limited' which is the parent of all the 26 companies that flourish under the Kirloskar banner today.

Kirloskar Oil Engines Limited at Pune is the first instance of Indo-Foreign collaboration. It has been a long march from a small shed to 26 powerful units. The success and contribution of Kirloskar is honoured by India Post with two commemorative stamps.

Birth Centenary stamp of Laxmanrao Kirloskar was issued in 1969. This stamp comes with the value INR0.20 and features a portrait of the entrepreneur.

Another stamp was issued in the year of 1988. The Kirloskar Centenary Stamp of Rs. 1.00 was issued to commemorate the 100 years of the setup of Kirloskar Business.