Storwel to space

From making India self-reliant, pre- and post-independence, to taking her to space, there is one company that played a key role in nation building: Godrej

- MANDIRA NAYAR

It was at the turn of the century—1897. The year Bram Stoker’s Dracula offered a blood drinking afterlife; Oscar Wilde was released from prison for gross indecency; the Battle of Saragarhi—much before its very nationalist Kesari (filmic) avatar—was fought to be lost; and a young Parsi, Ardeshir B. Godrej, set up a lock factory that was key to India’s safe future.

“We cannot call it a startup, but in a way it was,” said Vrunda Pathare, head of Godrej Archives. Till Ardeshir chose to go the security way, factory-made locks were imported; Indian locks were handmade. His was the first made-in-India endeavour that changed not just the lock landscape, but also our history. By 1908, Godrej had patented the first springless lock in the world. And by 1911, when King George V and Queen Mary became the first monarchs to set foot on Indian soil, their valuables were stored in Godrej safes—an endorsement that was as solid as the safes.