Birthplace of
Indian Industry was
Calcutta –beginning 1930’s
The India Fan Industry is one of the leading in the world, both in terms of manufactured quantities as well as domestic consumption. Though the invention of fans happened in the USA which also started emerging as a leading manufacturer till 1930’s yet India caught up briskly. By the late 1940’s India had over a score of leading Industries making Fans in India, mainly in Calcutta.
Two leading brands however remained flourishing in Western India. What is interesting is that 3 of the leading brands of late 40’s are still amongst the leading brands of today.
In late 1940’s Amritsar too became the centre of small manufacturers-which vanished in
next few decades
This interesting fact that is not widely known that by late 40’s (after the independence) Amritsar and some parts of Punjab too came into being as a large centre of small and tiny industries manufacturing fans. This was a mostly informal sector which in due course turned to other industrial products and so is not in reckoning now.
Hyderabad and parts of North India also become alternate hubs post 1960’s
From Calcutta, the major manufacturers like Orient and Usha started expanding with newer factories in Faridabad / Agra in North and Hyderabad in South India. Few of the Calcutta factories and brands became the casualties of the labour troubles of 1960’s in West Bengal. So other alternate hubs of fan manufacturing with ancillary infrastructure started taking shape in these locations.
Cinni from Varanasi makes a quiet but formidable entry in 1950.
Cinni enters with a new unique model with Black Table fans. Sturdy and entirely different in looks, it took its inspiration of design and feature gramme from antique models of few American and Italian brands of 1930’s. For decades it ruled its domain kingdom with no challenger. Now a scattered brand though.
In 1980’s , enter Haridwar and Himachal as other manufacturing hubs
The era of mid-eighties onwards saw a large number of Industries moving into Hardwar and Himachal due to excise benefits. These places too became excellent alternate sectors for fan manufacturing, though these were largely vendors to the main brands. The dependence on vendors for giving final products increased so also the unorganised and regional brands which flourished in this period.
