THE modern ceramic industry came into existence
in our country in the early part of twentieth century
and several factories were started in the
first decade of this century. The enamelling on
iron and steel slowly began to develop in the
twenties, although production of small enamelled
sign-plates on a very modest scale dated much
earlierL 2• In the earlier days, the industry
was entirely dependant on imported steel sheets
and foreign enamel frits. After the World War I,
at Calcutta, the then largest city in Asia, the
sheet iron enamelling industry began to take a
definite shape. Around 1918 a company was
formed with a capital of Rs. 50,000/- and the
first factory in India was started by Shri Shyam
Lal Banerjee3. Shri Banerjee obtained the enamelling
know-how and purchased the necessary
factory equipment from Japan. At about the
same time Shri M. M. Sur and Shri R. C. Sur
drew up a programme for the manufacture of
household enamelled wares and started experimenting
at Science College, Calcutta, under
Professor P. N. Ghose, Head of the Department
of Applied Physics. They started the
second factory, Messrs Sur Enamelling &
Stamping Works, in Calcutta. A few months
later Shri M. M. Sur sailed for Europe to study
the principles of enamelling in U. K. and also
in Vienna, Austria. On his return to India, Shri
Sur joined his company and effectively utilized
his knowledge for improvement of the
industry. |