Shikalgar Traditional Industries

Shikalgar community is traditionally engaged in manufacturing of various agricultural and household items of iron and its allies. During old days they were associated with royal families manufacturing various weapons required during war time. After the downfall and fragmentation of kingdoms, specifically during British rule, and increase in civil society with major emphasis on agricultural activities in India the manufacturing activities of Shikalgar Community changed from manufacturing of weapons to agricultural implements. People with good educational background entered into service sectors but chunk of community is still engaged in the manufacturing or trading of iron related items. The people of the community have old traditional knowledge of iron and its use in day to day life of human being. The people living in rural areas are mostly engaged in black smithy or the work of sharpening of utensils and those living in urban areas are engaged in fabrication, sharpening and some mechanical works. Thus, the tradition of working with iron and its products is continued since forefathers for years together.

With the increase in education and exposure to new competitive environment, few members of the community i.e. an industrialist, a V.P. (HR) in a Pvt. Co., a G.M. in a Shipping Co., a retired Banker and few enthusiasts from the community decided to use the traditional skill of the community for commercial purpose and established Shikalgar Traditional Industries on partnership basis on 1st Jan. 2017 and started commercial production of agricultural, gardening, industrial and household tools and equipments in a rented shade at Mandale, Mankhurd (Mumbai) from the month of Feb. 2017. The people running Shikalgar Traditional Industries are well experienced of running various organizations like Shikalgar Jamat Trust with Dist. Level Sanghatana throughout Maharashtra, Shikalgar Sahakari Patpedhi Ltd. Mumbai, etc. Shikalgar Traditional Industries is a Registered Partnership Firm also registered (No. 97) with MSME of Govt. of India is mainly established to use traditional skill of the community for commercial purpose and initially attention will be given to develop and manufacture basic tools and equipments used in agriculture, horticulture & gardening, industrial and household levels and will be increasing sphere and range of products as per demand from clients.

Our
Infrastructural Facility

Shikalgar Traditional Industries (STI) acquired a shed on rental basis at Gala No. 6, Kurla Scrap Merchant Association, Mandala, Mankhurd, Mumbai- 400 043 and started production activities of its products from the month of Feb.2017.Right now we are assessing the market and concentrating on those items only where there are orders in hand. Our specialization is in hand-made tools and equipments which are lagging behind on account of mechanization  of works on large scale. Here quality of material and skill of lab-our is our main focus enabling us to produce quality products as per needs of clients.

Quality
Assurance

As stated earlier STI is established by those people whose generations together are in the line of production for centuries and they are well aware about the quality of material and hardening and tampering of iron to be used in production of agril., gardening, household and various other equipments and tools used in day to day life of human being. We are manufacturing tools and equipments as per the specific requirement of the customer and  need of the work. We are well aware that tools & equipments used in different strata of soil, wood, rock, leather, etc require different type of hardening and tempering of iron for smooth working and long lasting time. This type of quality can be assured only by well trained and experienced persons from Shikalgar community who are dealing with iron and iron products for centuries together.

Our Clientele

Our clients are mostly rural based traders who are engaged in providing tools and equipments to agriculture, horticulture and gardening, fishery and other related activities. We also produce leather cutting scissors, rapy, mugari, etc used in manufacturing of footwear. Fire beater, Double axe, etc. are used as fire fighting equipments by fire brigade. Vegetable cutter, knives, Chopper, Coconut Stand, Bill Hook (Koyata) etc. are household equipments.  

These are our existing products and are going to increase range of products shortly as per the demand from customers. We are working on scissors required for thinning and cutting of grapes and such other equipments required for specific purposes. But majority of our products will be hand made except few like fawada, Dantale, etc where no major skill is required and can be easily manufactured with the help of machineries.

There are lot of wholesalers, retailers, service providers in Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Thane who are purchasing tools and equipments from us. We are looking forward to our root zone, the Western part of Maharashtra (i;e; Pune, Nasik, Ahmednagar, Satara, Sangli, Kolhapur, Solapur)  from where majority part of us are migrated to Mumbai, Pune in search of better prospects but our relatives are still doing their ancestral business in rural and urban areas and can help us in expansion of our activities there. Then we want to expand activities to other areas of Konkan, Khandesh, Marathwada, Vidarbha. This is vast area, therefore our approach is little but Maharashtra oriented but if opportunity comes we can look beyond Maharashtra also. Ours is new borne industry and presently with available sources we want to make brand name in Mumbai and Western Part of Maharashtra and to have easy communication with our root level clients/consumers emphasizing more on regional vernacular (i.e.Marathi) form of communication than Hindi or English. In future we can opt for more open policy of trilingual advertisement in Marathi, Hindi, and English.

We have had the opportunity to serve reputed clients in the market. Here are few names who have availed our products and services:

• Shobha Enterprises - Koregaon (Satara)


• Integral Engineering- Dombivali (Mumbai)


• Archies Agro Services- Thane