PERFECTLY CAST
Jayant Humbarwadi and the enterprise that he runs, Ashok Iron Works (AIW), are both the same age—48. Sitting in his airy corporate office at the Udyambag industrial estate in Belagavi, Jayant recaps the entrepreneurial journey that started in 1974 when his father Ashok Humbarwadi—then a young engineer–set up a foundry unit.
Today, the AIW Group, with annual revenue of Rs 1,000 crore, is among the country’s largest suppliers of machined castings for heavy duty applications.
“We started with very simple castings. Engine blocks came in the early 1990s,” says Jayant. “Today we are the only company that can make the whole range from a single cylinder engine block to a 16-cylinder block, both cast and machined.” These engine blocks—anywhere from 20-30 kg up to 2.5 tonnes apiece—go into power generation units, compressors, tractors, excavators, ships and locomotives. The group has 11 plants in Belagavi. Many of its customers are global companies with a manufacturing presence in India.
His group, which boasts a workforce of 4,000-odd people, is the largest employer in Belagavi.
Jayant has been involved with AIW through half its journey. An engineer himself, he was drafted into the family business in 1998, fresh out of management school. Soft-spoken and matter-of-fact, Jayant says the diversion from work he enjoys most is reading. The Humbarwadis stay in an elegant, modern bungalow set amidst an expansive lawn in Belagavi.
Where he invests profits In start-ups, an “interesting asset class”