It was the year 1946. Germany stood devastated by the Second World War. The Allies had won the war, and many German cities, including Munich, had been severely damaged by the British Royal Air Force. Munich, the picturesque capital of the Bavarian region of Germany, and centre of the country’s diesel engine production, had suffered as many as 74 air-raids. More than half the entire city had been damaged or
destroyed.
On one gloomy morning that year, at the Munich Railway station, stood the Directors of Krauss Maffei, the reputed German engineering
Company. They were waiting for the arrival of their guests from India.
Founded in 1838, Krauss Maffei was a leading maker of locomotives of
various types, and an engineering company with a formidable
reputation. Unfortunately, the Company now stood devastated by the World War, since their factories had been destroyed by the Allied Forces.
The guests from India got down from their train. They were Directors from the Tata Group in India. If you had been there, you would have seen JRD Tata, the young, tall, lanky Chairman of the Group, get off the train. And accompanying him was a forty-year old engineer, Sumant Moolgaonkar representing TELCO (now Tata Motors). They had come to Munich for discussions with Krauss Maffei, regarding the manufacture of locomotives in India. What they found, instead, were scenes of
destruction and ruin.
The Germans requested the Indians to take some of their unemployed
engineers to India, alongwith their families, and provide them jobs
and shelter.
The Directors of Krauss Maffei are reported to have told the Tata Directors – "They are very skilled people. They will do whatever you ask them if you take care of them. They can also teach your people."
This would have to be done without a formal contract, because the
British, who were still ruling India, had forbidden Indian Companies from having any contracts with German Corporations, during those times of the World War. But this request was urgent, and compelling. Because
in that year, with factories lying destroyed, unemployment in Germany was rampant, and the then German currency, the Reichsmark had become almost worthless.
The Tata Directors agreed to this request, and assured the Germans that their people would be well looked after. The German engineers from Krauss Maffei then came to India, and they were provided good jobs and housing by the Tata Group. They were well taken care of, and they also rendered great service to Tata Motors.
In 1945, Tata Motors
had signed an agreement with the Indian Railways for manufacture of steam locomotives and this is where German engineers provided valuable technicalexpertise. They helped the Company manufacture locomotives, which were amongst the Company’s very first products.
In 1947, India became independent.
In the 1950s, Tata Motors moved on to manufacture trucks in collaboration with Daimler Benz. Many years had now passed since that fateful meeting at the Munich Railway Station. Germany had substantially recovered from the ravages of the
war, and the reconstruction effort had borne great fruit. In one of these happier years, the Board of Directors of Krauss Maffei was
surprised to suddenly receive a letter from India.
This letter was from the Tata Group. It offered grateful thanks for
the services of the German engineers and it contained an offer of
compensation to Krauss Maffei for the skills which had been
transferred by the Germans to Tata Motors.
Krauss Maffei was
surprised, even taken aback at this offer. There was no legal contract, and therefore no obligation for the Tata Group to pay any compensation
In fact, I think, neither did this expectation exist, because the Tata Group had helped by providing jobs and shelter to the
otherwise unemployed German engineers during those dark days. So, the Germans were astonished,as they read the Tata letter