Daijiworld Media Network – Bangalore (SP)

Bangalore, Sep 12: HMT Watches Ltd with its head office in the city, which has been in existence since the last 53 years, and had once upon a time, been considered synonymous with accurate time in India, is all set to wind up its operations soon. At the same time, its arm, 'HMT Chinar Watches Ltd', which used to produce premier watches, is also being shut down.

With this, HMT, which had emerged as a proud brand from India, will stop ticking within a few weeks from now. The company has four units including the city and Tumkur. HMT Chinar Ltd has two units isn Jammu and Srinagar.

The central government has decided to shut down HMT Watches, a division of HMT Ltd, as it has been consistently operating under loss since the year 2000, and facing an economic crisis under which it is finding it difficult even to disburse salary to employees. As reported by an English daily, Board for Reconstruction of Public Sector Enterprises has already recommended for the closure of these two companies, and the boards of directors of these companies have approved this decision.

HMT Watches had started to function in 1961 in association with Citizen Watch Company, Japan. In the recent past, losses of the company have been steadily raising, and the central government had to lend Rs 694.52 crore by March 2012 end to the company to tide over financial crisis. As on March 31, 2013, the company had a workforce of 1,015.