VISHWAKARMA MECHANICAL WORKS - Birth of Entrepreneurship, Shipbuilding in Pre – Independence Era

By BWA Envoy
April 02, 2022
2 Minutes Read

Vishwakarma Mechanical Works (VWM) (www.gajjar.co) was established in 1935 at Porbandar by Mr Govindji Gajjar as a fabrication unit. Porbandar, the birthplace of Mahatma Gandhi is known for shipbuilding and salvaging activity with direct berthing facilities for up to 50,000 DWT ships. A journey commenced way back in 1935 by Mr Govindji Gajjar when entrepreneurship was a distant dream for many, but he had the courage to stand up against the odds by starting a small undercapitalized Mechanical Works unit.

Initially, the company provided engineering and related services to bigger industries in the area. With the rapidly changing economy and high competition in the marine industry, the firm developed multi-fold in terms of infrastructure, revenue and workforce. With time, the onus of responsibility came to Mr Ketan Gajjar (grandson of Mr Govindji Gajjar), who turned the unit into a full-fledged company with diverse activities like fabrication and mechanical works, ship salvage, ship repairing activity, and other related marine services both domestic as well as international.

Now the firm participates in tenders to procure contracts from clients with major customers being the Indian Coast Guard, Border Security Force, Gujarat Maritime Board, Gujarat State Fertilizers & Chemicals Ltd etc. Given the domain expertise in ship repairs, fabrication, erection, and commissioning of ships for years, it is the only firm in the Gujarat region undertaking the repair of hovercrafts belonging to the Coast Guard and this makes it distinct from its competitors.

The firm also developed an alliance with M/s SMIT Salvage, Singapore where they assist them in salvage operations in any part of India, thus acting as a next-door saviour for the ships in distress. This makes Vishwakarma Mechanical Works a single corporate model for marine, fabrication, salvage, and offshore services.