F & B (Canteen) Token: The Ananta Mills Co. Ltd. - No value indicated.

[asm]

F & B (Canteen) Token: The Ananta Mills Co. Ltd.
Inscription in English: ANANTA MILLS Ltd with logo of the company (A lady or Goddess seated with a Globe in her left hand, petting a Lion with the right hand. REVERSE: CANTEEN TOKEN wit the Monogram of the Mill (A M) below.
Value: No value mentioned on the token
Round Token with Hole in the center.
Metal: Copper Weight: ~3 g. Diameter: ~ 20 mm
About the Mill: THE ANANTA MILLS COMPANY LTD was a Private company incorporated on Saturday, 07 December 1929 and was located at Rakhial, AHMEDABAD. The company was promoted by the Shodhan brothers and was in the business of Spinning, Weaving and Finishing of cotton fabrics. M/s Jayantilal Amratlal Ltd (a Public company incorporated on 06 December 1929, by three Shodhan brothers – Jayantilal Amratlal, Ramanlal Amratlal & Hariprasad Amratlal) were appointed as Managing Agents, Secretaries, Treasurers and Agents for the company.

Less than 40 years later, the company stopped operations on 1st October 1966 and unable to pay its creditors, it was ordered to be wound up under an order of the High Court of Gujarat made on September 11, 1967 and the official liquidator was appointed as liquidator of the company. Sometime later, a scheme of compromise between the company and its creditors was proposed and the court sanctioned this scheme of compromise on October 15, 1969 and simultaneously cancelled the order made on September 11, 1967 to wind up the company. Unfortunately this did not help revive the fortunes of the company and the sponsors of the scheme filed an application in 1970 confirming their inability to further implement the scheme. The court once again appointed the official liquidator as the provisional liquidator, who pursuant to an order of the court took possession of the assets of the company on October 5, 1970. The liquidator, after obtaining necessary directions, proceeded to sell the Mills and land belonging to the company. The company was revived under a different ownership and management and under the name. Thereafter, it was once again sold and finally was scrapped and a large Commercial center now stands where the mill once stood.

The copy of the share certificate uploaded is for information only and has been sourced from the net as I do not (as yet) collect share certificates.
Amit

[Figleaf]

A perfect piece of Indian history. TFS! Here is a company owned by Indians in 1940. Where did they get their starting capital from? Earlier generations?

The share certificate is in the name of one of the founders. The company set up a textile plant. Who supported the investment? Was a license necessary? Why spinning, weaving and finishing of cotton fabrics only? What stopped them from going into turning textiles into apparel and clothes?

The plant looks like a model for one of Mahatma Gandhi's most powerful images: cotton grown from India, turned into finished products in Manchester and shipped back to India. As such, the plant served British interests: reserving the stage of high value added production for the British, never mind shipping cost. Is that what the image refers to? The factory serving the world while keeping the British lion calm?

Things would have changed after 1949. The field was open for further development IF you could get the capital together to invest in new, better and more machines. Exporting would have been difficult in the licensing system that isolated India from the world economy and increased cost by way of graft, but it reserved a huge domestic market for domestic producers. Yet, the company held out for almost another 20 years. By that the time, the original owners, the Shodan brothers, had probably retired. Were their successors less good at maintaining relations with the powers that be?

One token. The history of a country.

Peter