The Group was founded in 1939 by Late Dr. S.L. Khanna with the main activity of manufacturing weights and measures. We were the sole such manufacturer in the then undivided Punjab authorized by the Government. Dr. Khanna had left a lucrative dental practice to start this activity keeping in mind his vision of trust & integrity in all spheres of business and life.

Subsequently, one of the first manufacturing activities taken up by the Group was of snap fasteners – second largest such manufacturer at the time. (1958 onwards). We were one of the two or three manufacturers of parachute nylon chords for supply to military services in India.

The Group entered into activities of foreign trade and consultancy in the 1960s. By the early 1970’s the Group was representing over 140 top companies from all over the world.

Working actively with The State Trading Corporation of India Ltd. (STC) (a Government of India Undertaking) and organized:

• First export of Leather Components for Shoes by STC from India – Buyers – Hy Brothers in USA, from 1968 onwards.

• First successful Barter from India – organised with a U.S. Company in 1971 at the time of severe foreign exchange crisis in India.

• Pioneers in Special Trading Arrangements in India – first ever STA for STC – with M/s H.F. Cordes and Company, Germany from 1972-76.

• Helped Tata Exports for their first Export of a shipload of Steel Rails to M/s L.B. Foster and Company, USA in 1970.

• Signed on behalf of MMTC Export Contracts for the first Export of Coke from India – successfully exported to M/s Franz Haniel, Germany and M/s. Klockner Rederie, Germany.

• Signed on behalf of MMTC Contract for the first ever Export of Steam Coal from India organized by us. Export to Europe for Power Plants in France with M/s. Hansen Neuberg, Germany and got them executed, 1971.

In 1974, separate entities were formed to handle separate areas of business.

Since then under the visionary and dynamic guidance of Mr. Vinod Khanna, the Group has represented with great success Groups and Companies like:

• M/s. M.A.N. Germany; M/s. H.F. Cordes & Co., Germany;
• M/s. Saab Scania, Sweden, M/s. Saab Fairchild, Sweden;
• M/s. Mitsui & Co., Japan; M/s. Kamastu Ltd., Japan;
• M/s. Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC); The Trading Corporation of Bangladesh; Khulna Newsprint Mills Ltd. (All Government of Bangladesh Organizations);

Technopromo Export (TPE); M/s. Tractoroexport, Moscow;

The Australian Wheat Board (AWB), M/s. Versatile Toft, Australia;

Elin Union, Austria;

M/s. Oil & Gas Equipment Co. Ltd.,U.K;

Olivetti, Italy.

• 1970s Sale of Wheat from the Australian Wheat Board (AWB) to Government of India.
• Sole Selling & Buying Agents for the Government of Romania in the late 1970s and early 1980s for all products with India including millions of tons of commodities including urea and DAP
• Assisted in opening up the first Indo-Bangladesh land route at Benapole / Petrapole
• Introduced newsprint from Bangladesh to India.
• Pioneered R&D in the first Electronic Display Boards made available in India
• In 1980s
• Organized the interlinking of the Stock Exchanges in India for information flow all over India for the first time
• First export from India of of Electronic Display Boards to Kenya
• Tie up with Olivetti, Italy for computer systems for processing, software inputs and export
• 1990s – Assisted in opening up for the first time the sale of Indian Agri commodities to the Government of Bangladesh
• 2000s – Ventured into mining activities & JVs
• 2000s – With the opening of the Realty sector to foreign investment have entered the real estate field
• Projects in Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, etc