Visvesvaraya Iron and Steel Limited - History

History

The Iron Works were started by Nalvadi Krishnaraja Wodeyar, the king of Mysore, under the guidance of his Diwan, Sir M Visvesvaraya. The main objective was to tap the rich iron ore deposits near Kemmanagundi in the Baba Budangiri hills and manufacture pig iron and other products. A preliminary investigation of setting up an iron and steel factory at Bhadravathi was done in 1915-1916. This investigation was done by a New York based firm who explored the possibility of manufacturing pig iron with the use of charcoal fuel. The years 1918-1922 were spent in setting up the factory. To start with, a wood distillation plant for manufacturing charcoal and blast furnace for smelting iron were set up in the factory. Agencies were established in Madras, Ahmedabad and Karachi and a sales office was opened in Bombay. A cast iron pipe plant, open hearth furnace, rolling mills and a cement plant were later added and the name of the factory was changed to The Mysore Iron and Steel Works. In 1939, the Shimoga-Talguppa railway line was laid, using wood from the Malnad forests were transported to this plant, to be used as a fuel in its furnaces. In 1952, two electric pig-iron surfaces were installed in the company, thereby making VISL the first iron and steel company in India to use electricity in the smelting of iron ore. In 1962, the name was changed to The Mysore Iron and Steel Limted and the factory was converted into a Government company jointly owned by the Government of India and the Government of Karnataka with an equity share ratio of 40:60 respectively. The year 1962 also saw the establishment of a new steel plant which could produce steel using the relatively new L D Process. In order to honour its founder, the company was renamed as Visvesvaraya Iron and Steel Limited in 1975. In 1989, it was taken over by the Steel Authority of India as a subsidiary entity and in 1998, VISL was merged into SAIL.