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History of Nirma Ltd.

1980

- The Comp. was incorporated on February 25, as Private Limited Company to carry on the business of manufacturing & selling Synthetic Detergents, Soaps, Chemicals & Allied Products. The Comp. is promoted by Shri Karsanbhai K. Patel.

1993

- The Comp. became a deemed public limited Comp. under Section 43-A of the Companies Act, 1956 & was then converted into a Public Limited Company by passing a special resolution at the Extra-ordinary General Meeting held on November 08.

- The Comp. proposes to set up a 1200 tpd [4,20,000 tpas] Soda Ash Project in technical collaboration with AKZO NOBEL ENGINEERING BV [AKZOs] of Netherlands based on the Dry Lime Technology as a backward integration to the existing activities.

- The Comp. proposes to set up a facilities to manufacture Toilet Soaps with an installed capacity of 60,000 tpa & Synthetic Detergents with installed capacity of about 3,00,000 tpa.

- The Comp. will be entering into a long term agreement with the Bhavnagar Municipal Corporation for providing of requisite quantity of sewage water.

1994

- The Comp. came out with its maiden public issue of Equity Shares of Rs.10/- each for cash at a premium of Rs.100/- per share aggregating for Rs.44.78 crores in February.

- The Comp. also ventured into manufacture of Fatty Acid, Glycerine, Toilet Soaps, Sulphuric Acid & Alfa Olefin Sulphonate [AOSs].

- Nirma limited has become a multi product Comp. representing a wide array of product lines starting from Detergent Powders & personal care products like Toilet Soaps to chemicals like Sulphuric Acid, Glycerin, Alfa Olefin Sulphonates, Fatty Acids, Oxygen etc.

- The Brand name 'NIRMA' is owned by Nirma Chemical Works Pvt. Ltd. which has given a non exclusive license to AME thereby allowing AME to use the Nirma brand trade marks.

- The Comp. sells Sulphuric Acid, Oleum, Alfa Olefin Sulphonates, Glycerin & Oxygen directly to industrial consumers on a regular basis.

- The Comp. has also installed 26 Wind Turbine Generators [WTGs] with a capacity of 5.94 MW to generate power at Dhank Dist., Rajkot.

- Nilnita Chemicals Limited will be amalgamated with the Comp. with effect from 1st April.

- The Comp. is setting up a desalination facility for producing about 200 cu. mtrs per day of soft water.

- The Comp. proposes to establish R&D Centre at site for better waste utilisation & infrastructural betterment.

- The Comp. has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with Indian Oil Corporation Ltd., for release by I.O.C.L. of 80,000 MTPA net of LAB feed stock in case the Comp. decides to establish a plant for the production of 80,000 MTPA of Linear Alkyl Benzene.

- The Comp. has also installed equipments for testing the bio-degradability of various surfactants.

1995

- The Comp. is setting up salt works facility at Kalatalav on 25,000 acres of land adjacent to its proposed Soda Ash plant for meeting its entire salt requirement.

- The Comp. has entered into an Agreement with Humphrey and Glasgow Consultants limited for Detailed Engineering, construction supervision including Civil & Architectural Designs & Procurement Services for the Soda Ash Plant.

- The Comp. would be entering into Equipment Supply Agreement[ss] with the Critical Plant and Equipment Suppliers which, inter-alia, should provide for performance guarantee of equipment, penal provisions for non-fulfilment of guaranteed norms, delay in delivery & defects in workmanship/design etc.

1996

- During the year, Comp. has introduced Shampoo, which has been seed marketed & has been accepted well by consumers.

- During the year, on Acc. of modernisation, Comp. has successfully manufactured IP Grade [Pharmaceutical Grades] Glycerin and the same has been well accepted & is in good demand.

- The Comp. has technology tie up with UOP Inter Americana Inc., U.S.A. who will be providing technical & basic engineering services. The Comp. has also tied up with Uhde India Limited for providing detailed engineering services.

- Issue of 81,41,750 - 17% secured non convertible debentures and/or secured premium notes of face value of Rs 200 each for cash at par aggregating Rs 162,83,50,000 alongwith four detachable warrants attached to each NCS/SPN, to the shareholders of Comp. on rights basis in the ratio of one NCD/SPN for every two equity shares held by them on 9th August.

1997

- Nirma is one of country largest detergent producers selling over 4.5 lakh tonnes of detergent & having the largest market share in the low value mass market brands. Nirma, powder sells more than Hindustan Lever Wheel, though Hindustan Lever is the largest producer of detergent & toilet soaps put together. - Nirma Ltd is launching a mega public offer totalling Rs. 350 crore. The offer will be distributed through the 100 per cent book-building process, whereby the sale price of share & the total size of the offer will be driven by demand for stock.

- Nirma is not only India largest selling brand in detergent segment but is also the second largest manufacturer of toilet soap in the country.

- Nirma Ltd has entered into a separate agreement with Nirma Chemical Works Ltd [NCWLs], the trademark owner of Nirma brand, for exports.

- Nirma has entered into a separate agreement with Nirma Chemical Works, the trademark owner of `Nirma' brand, for exports.

- The Comp. has created Nirma Consumer Care limited - a wholly owned subsidiary in August, which is the sole licensee of brand name Nirma within India.

- The 75,000 tpa linear alkyl benzene [LABs] plant was commissioned in December, at Alindra near Baroda in Gujarat.

1998

- ICRA has assigned an LAAA rating to the Rs.200 crore Non-convertible debentures programme of Nirma Ltd [NLs], indicating highest safety.

- The Comp. Nirma has already announced successful completion of it's state-of-the-art 80,000 tpa Linear Alkyl Benzene plant.

- Nirma is one of few Indian companies that have matched the MNCs in the retail sales through innovative marketing strategies.

- The firm has set up state-of-the-art packaging & printing units and will now directly produce key raw materials to improve product quality.

1999

- The edible salt market is set to witness a keen battle with a new entrant, Nirma Salt, about to hit the market.

- The Comp. is putting up a three-stage vacuum salt plant with an installed capacity of 280,000 tonnes a year.

- The overall sales growth has been constrained due to a plant shutdown in the industrial product segment to manufacture N-Paraffin.

2000

- Nirma has decided to acquire the business of Kisan Industries for a cash consideration of Rs 200 crore with effect from 1st April.

- Kisan Industries, having manufacturing facilities for detergents and fertilisers & for printing & packaging at Moraiya village in Ahmedabad district, had the right to manufacture 20 per cent of Nirma brand of detergents.

- Nirma has decided to issue redeemable NCDs with a face value of Rs 1,00,000 each at Rs 1,00,000 each, aggregating Rs 150 crores, in one or more tranches on private placement basis for a tenor of 350 days, carrying an interest rate not exceeding 11.5 per cent per annum, payable yearly.

- Credit rating agency ICRA has retained the highest safety rating of `LAAA' to the Rs 200 crore non-convertible debenture programme of soaps and detergents major Nirma

2002

-Garners Rs 75 crore by issuing one-year floating-rate debentures

-Undertakes manufacturing of toilet soap under the brand name 'Camay' for its subsidiary Nirma Consumer Care Ltd which obtains license from Procter and Gamble Home Products limited Nirma Consumer Care Ltd launches the product on October 08, 2002

-Closes down Bangladesh unit due to low sales volumes

2003

-Shareholders of Comp. approve Scheme of Arrangement for Demerger of Operating Division of Nirma Industries Ltd with the company

-Kicks off a fresh valuation of its two key brands namely, Nirma & Nima, together with the trademarks

-Gujarat High Court approves Scheme of Arrangement for Demerger of Operating Division of Nirma Industries Ltd with the company

2004

Nirma Education & Research Foundation [NERFs] has set up NirmaLabs, a not-to-profit Section 25 Comp. with a corpus of over five crore, to nurture talented individuals in their pursuit of high-tech, knowledge-based wealth generation.

- Karsanbhai Patel, promoter of Ahmedabad-based detergents major Nirma Ltd, is becoming a venture capitalist. A Patel entity, Nirma Education & Research Foundation, has set up a new company, NirmaLabs, which will incubate talented individuals & projects.

2007

- The Comp. has splits its face value from Rs.10/- to Rs.5/-.