British India Corporation Limited (BIC) is a Public Sector Undertaking of the Ministry of Textiles. The company produces textiles for use by civilians & the Indian armed forces. It manufactures "Lal-Imli" & "Dhariwal" brands of woollen products. Its history dates back to 1876
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Five Kanpur residents and merchants, George Allen, W.E. Cooper, Bevan Petman, J. Condon and Gavin S. Jones, between 1876 and 1894, started woollen mills, cotton mills and leather factories in the city.
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In 1920, Sir Alexander MacRobert, a self-made millionaire from Aberdeen, UK, acquired these mills in Kanpur and established British India Corporation as a public limited company.
(Pic: Sir Alexander MacRobert with Georgina, his first wife, in 1886)
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The Corporation had two Woollen Mills directly owned and run by it, namely, Cawnpore Woolen Mills, Kanpur and New Egerton Woollen Mills, Dhariwal. Together, these units employed about 8000 persons.
(Pic: Cawnpore Woolen Mills Ltd, Kanpur)
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Besides, BIC also had substantial shares in various other companies, like the Elgin Mills Co. Ltd., Brushware Ltd., Cawnpore Textiles Ltd., Cawnpore Sugar Works Ltd., Champaran Sugar Co. Ltd., Saran Engineering Co. etc.
(Pic: Share certificate of Cawnpore Sugar Works Ltd)
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