From Rs 431 Crore Loss to Recovery: Inside TIL’s Comeback

In 1944, as the Second World War disrupted global supply chains and sent equipment prices spiralling, three enterprising Scotsmen; Alan Ramsay, Charles Porter, and Robert Wilson, spotted an opportunity in India's infrastructure hunger. They established Tractors India (later rechristened as TIL) as the authorised dealer for Caterpillar Inc., becoming one of the first companies to bring American earthmoving technology to the subcontinent.

A year later, two Danish refugees, Henning Holck-Larsen and Soren Toubro, followed a similar path, signing an agreement with Caterpillar to market earthmoving equipment, giving rise to what became Larsen & Toubro. Both companies started on remarkably ...