In the 1950s foundries were few and far between in Kolkata. Political and economic instability in post independent India didn’t offer a very conducive atmosphere for large capital investments. However, the country badly needed investments on infrastructure and development at the time.
For the young visionary, Mr. Shyam Sunder Kejriwal, the scenario at the time didn’t work as a deterrent though, and for an entrepreneur par excellence like him, rather lent itself to setting up a foundry. He was just 28 when he set afloat Kejriwal Iron and Steel Works in 1957 at Howrah which was one of the first organized and dedicated foundries in the Iron and Steel sector at the time.
Since then, it has been a fascinating journey for the company. It started off with manufacturing customized cast iron products for road rollers, and went on to produce its first indigenously manufactured product, pressure pipe fitting, in 1960-61, thus evolving into a foundry in the truest sense of the term.
In 1997 Kejriwal Iron and Steel Works was rechristened as KISWOK Industries Pvt. Ltd. which has today grown into a force to be reckoned with in the global castings industry.