“Manufacturing textiles for 112 years,” that’s quite a legacy for Tata Mills. This mill began its journey on February 23, 1913. It started as a public company. The company’s authorized capital was INR 2.00 Cr. Its paid-up capital reached INR 1.51 Cr.
Tata Mill is registered in Mumbai. Its address is Bombay House. That building is located at 24, Homi Mody Street.
Tata Textiles was a large business. It was part of the Tata Group. Tata Textiles included four mills. There was the Central India Mills. It was known as Empress Mills in Nagpur. Then, there was the Svadeshi Mills in Bombay. Also, there was the Advance Mills in Ahmedabad. For decades, these mills made fabrics. They sold them under the Tata Textiles brand.
Tata first entered manufacturing in 1874. Jamsetji Tata started The Central India Spinning. It was also called Weaving and Manufacturing Company. It was located in Victoria Mills. Later, it was renamed Empress Mill. This renaming celebrated Queen Victoria. She became Empress of India on January 1, 1877. In 1887, Jamsetji bought the failing Dharamsi Mills in Kurla. He renamed it Svadeshi Mill. It became a success. The cloth was exported to China, Korea, Japan and the Levant. The Ahmadabad Advance Mills started in 1903.
Together, Tata mills were big in cotton textiles. This was true until the 1980s. In 1972, the four mills made 150 million meters of cloth each year. They had 325000 spindles and 6845 looms.
The Tata group gradually left textiles. In 1986, they sold Empress Mills in Nagpur. The Maharashtra State Textile Corporation took it over. However, they closed it in 2002. In 1990, they exited the New Ahmedabad Advance Mills. It was sold to Phulchand Exports. The Tata Mill at Parel was taken over by the National Textile Corporation.
Tata Housing Development Company gained land. This land was in Mumbai. It had belonged to the Tata Mills at Parel. Svadeshi Mill closed after going to BIFR in 1997. Shapoorji Pallonji Group has been in a legal battle since then. By 1997, Tata Textile Mills had ended its business.
Today, Tata Mill Limited remains active. It has open charges of INR 1.23 Cr. As of April 1, 2024, Tata Mill had 496 employees. This mill is a reminder of Mumbai’s textile past. It shows the rise and fall of industries.