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Laxmanrao Kirloskar
लक्ष्मणराव किर्लोस्कर
The father of small industry — who made machines in the village
Years
1869 – 1956
Known as
Laxmanrao Kirloskar — the pioneer of small industry
Birthplace
Kundal, Maharashtra
Field
Scientists & Thinkers
“The prosperity of Bhārat lies in its villages — and the village needs its own machine.”
— Laxmanrao Kirloskar
The Story
Born in 1869 in Kundal, Laxmanrao Kirloskar studied in Pune and worked as a teacher before his mechanical genius found its calling. In 1888, in the village of Belgaum, he built his first machine — a plough — and began the workshop that would grow into the Kirloskar empire.
His great innovation was to make machines for the farmer and the small producer — ploughs, engines, pumps, and lathes — built in the land, by the land's own hands. He moved his workshop to the village of Kirloskarwadi, which he built into a model industrial village, proving that industry and rural life could flourish together.
He died in 1956, honoured as the father of small industry in Bhārat. The Kirloskar group he founded remains one of the great industrial houses of the nation, and his name is honoured wherever the idea of the self-reliant village is cherished.
Core Ideas
The First Machine
His plough of 1888 began the great enterprise.
The Village Industry
He built Kirloskarwadi as a model industrial village.
The Farmer's Machines
He made the tools the villages needed.
The Pioneer
The father of small-scale industry in Bhārat.
Self-Reliance
The belief that the village can build its own future.
Why it matters today
Laxmanrao Kirloskar is honoured as the father of small industry in Bhārat — the pioneer who proved that the villages of the land could build their own machines. The great Kirloskar group descends from his single workshop, and his name remains the symbol of the industrial self-reliance of Bhārat.