New ownership charts ambitious turnaround for TIL, India's oldest crane manufacturer.
12 Jan 2026 | 222 Views | By Shahkar Abidi
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 ...
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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 parallel tracks, distributing the same brand of yellow iron across a nation rebuilding itself after colonial rule.
Eight decades later, their trajectories could not be more different. Larsen & Toubro has transformed into a $23 billion engineering and construction conglomerate, a blue-chip stock whose fortunes are tied to the aspirations of modern India.
The early stories of TIL and L&T share striking similarities. Both companies rode India's post-independence infrastructure boom, leveraging partnerships with American equipment manufacturers to establish themselves as indispensable players in construction, mining, and earthmoving.
In 1963, Caterpillar made its first direct investment in India by forming a 50:50 joint venture with Larsen & Toubro called Tractor Engineers Limited, designed to manufacture parts for Cat dozers. That same year, the Bhakra Dam project, at that time the largest concrete gravity dam in the world, relied heavily on Caterpillar equipment supplied by both distributors.
But while L&T aggressively diversified into cement, power, defence, and technology, TIL remained tightly focused on its core competencies. In the 1960s, TIL entered a joint venture with Coles Cranes of the UK, commissioning India's first purpose-built mobile crane factory at Kamarhatty in Kolkata and rolling out the country's first indigenously manufactured 10-tonne mobile crane in 1962. The company expanded its Caterpillar dealership to neighbouring countries, including Nepal, Bhutan, and Myanmar.
Rough Terrain Crane - RT760
Through the 1980s and 1990s, TIL continued to innovate, manufacturing India's first rough terrain crane in 1982 and introducing the country's first 100-tonne truck-mounted mobile crane in 1988. It established partnerships with global leaders including Manitowoc for crawler cranes and Hyster-Yale for forklifts and container handlers, gradually building a reputation as a reliable manufacturer of specialised lifting equipment.
By the 2000s, TIL had also carved out a niche in defence manufacturing, supplying bespoke equipment such as AKASH Transporter cum Loader Vehicles for the Air Force and Pinaka Loader cum Replenishment Vehicles for India's Multi Barrel Rocket System since 1987.
After touching a revenue peak of Rs 447.6 crore in FY2019, the company's sales dwindled to just Rs 69.1 crore in FY2024 owing to Covid 19 pandemic and shifting market dynamics. Its net profit trajectory has mirrored that volatility. From a profit of Rs 23.2 crore by FY2019, losses deepened to an alarming Rs 431.2 crore in FY2022.
With the company striving for survival, the then promoter, the Mazumder family, announced they were seeking a strategic investor in November 2022, and by January 2024, the deal was sealed. Gainwell Group acquired majority control of the company through its subsidiary Indocrest Defence Solutions, injecting Rs 120 crore and replacing the entire board of directors.
The funds were immediately deployed to settle outstanding debts through a one-time settlement mechanism and inject much-needed working capital. Under the new management, led by ex-IAS official Sunil Kumar Chaturvedi, TIL reported a remarkable jump a year later with revenue of Rs 343.07 Cr in FY 2025.
The company also achieved the second-highest number of machines manufactured and sold in a decade, in addition to boasting a healthy order book exceeding Rs. 200 crores with strong order book growth of 25% demonstrated in the first quarter of FY26. Additionally, TIL also claims to have achieved 2.5% material cost reduction through indigenization initiatives, the company officials highlighted.
"When we came in January last year, morale was low, plants were barely functioning, and all stakeholders—employees, shareholders, bankers, and the government—were unhappy,” remembers Alok Tripathi, President. “Our first priority was people. We cleared most all old dues, held town halls, and rebuilt communication. We reconstituted the board, all new members: CFO, CTO, sales head, HR, everyone was new. We developed a new vision, mission, and values."
Now, with an investment plan of Rs 1,000 crore and ambitions of reaching a group-wide valuation of $1 billion by 2030, Gainwell is seeking to reinvent TIL Limited. The goal is to turn it into a broad-based engineering solutions company, a large bet on diversification in an industry where reinvention rarely comes easy. TIL's product portfolio spans mobile cranes (pick-and-carry, truck-mounted, rough terrain), crawler cranes, reach stackers, container handlers, and specialised defence equipment.
However, years of underinvestment had allowed competitors to capture significant market share. In the pick-and-carry segment, India's largest crane market at 14,000-15,000 units annually, Action Construction Equipment (ACE) now commands a dominant 63% share, followed by Escorts. The truck crane market, estimated at 1,200-1,500 units per year, is largely dominated by Chinese and global brands, with TIL having lost considerable ground.
Government initiatives such as the Smart Cities Mission, Make in India, and Atmanirbhar Bharat are creating sustained demand for heavy lifting equipment. The construction and infrastructure sector accounts for 57.61% of crane market revenue, while energy and utilities post a robust 10.39% CAGR as super-heavy crawlers support wind turbine installations. Mining, ports, and industrial manufacturing contribute niche demand requiring specialised equipment.
For TIL, the opportunity is twofold. First, recapturing even a modest share of the domestic pick-and-carry and truck crane markets could translate into hundreds of crores in annual revenue. The Indian crane market presents a compelling growth story. Valued at $1.48 billion in 2025, it is projected to reach $2.06 billion by 2030, expanding at a compound annual growth rate of 6.79%.
Mobile cranes, TIL's core segment, captured 63.12% of the market in 2024, driven by rapid deployment across road, port, and industrial sites. The pick-and-carry segment alone is expected to grow at a 17% CAGR through 2031 in the Asia-Pacific region, fuelled by accelerated urbanisation and large-scale infrastructure projects.
Second, the defence segment offers high-margin, long-cycle contracts that provide revenue visibility and justify the company's investments in engineering and compliance. The port and logistics sectors, driven by container traffic growth and warehouse automation, present additional avenues for reaching stackers and container handlers.
In the truck crane segment, TIL plans to reintroduce models that leverage its decades of manufacturing expertise while incorporating contemporary hydraulic and automation technologies. "If the government implements the anticipated anti-dumping duty it would further support our position, but even without it, we are re-entering the truck crane market," Tripathi said, adding that the market size for truck cranes is roughly 1,200–1,500 units annually, and he will target 15 to 300+ ton models.
Beyond domestic manufacturing, TIL continues its partnership with Manitowoc Crane Group of the USA, distributing wheeled and lattice boom crawler cranes, along with the Grove range of all-terrain and mobile telescoping cranes. This import distribution strategy addresses high-capacity lifting requirements (20-1,300 tonnes) that Indian manufacturers struggle to meet domestically.. In addition to these domestic products, TIL is exploring the distribution of imported cranes. Its partner Manitowoc manufactures some all-terrain and crawler cranes in Europe and the U.S.
TIL also renewed five-year Dealer Sales and Service Agreement with Hyster-Yale Asia-Pacific, signed in November 2024 and building on a collaboration that began in 2008, grants TIL exclusive distribution rights for Hyster brand products including high-capacity forklift trucks, empty container handlers, and ReachStackers across India, Nepal, and Bhutan. Most recently, TIL's partnership with Snorkel Europe has expanded its offerings to include advanced aerial work platforms featuring tri-entry designs with cutting-edge safety features.
The company has two manufacturing facilities, the historic Kamarhatty plant in Kolkata and the modern Kharagpur facility commissioned in 2011. Currently, the Kharagpur facility operates at approximately 20% capacity utilisation while Kamarhatti operates at around 50%.
The new management boasts prioritising efficiency improvements through technology upgrades such as robotic welding, advanced painting systems, and shot blasting equipment. Supply chain and production processes are being optimised with consulting support from IIM Mumbai, while research and development efforts are being strengthened through collaborations with Gainwell's in-house engineering team based out of Chennai.