Morbi bridge collapse: Ajanta Manufacturing was struggling for the past 6 years

Gujarat-based Ajanta Manufacturing, a part of the Oreva Group, which was awarded the contract to maintain the recently collapsed suspension bridge in Morbi, witnessed a substantial fall in its total income during the past six years till FY21. Data available with CMIE Prowess showed that total income of the company declined to Rs 283.8 crore for the financial year ended March 31, 2021 from Rs 545.4 crore in FY15, a 48 per cent decline.

Likewise, profit after tax declined to Rs 7.9 crore from Rs 10.77 crore during the same period, indicating a fall of 26 per cent. However, topline of the company increased by 2.4 per cent while bottom line declined 46 per cent on year-on-year basis till March 31, 2021.

The company had bagged a 15-year contract to maintain the bridge in March and reopened it after repairs before schedule in October month. The 140-year-old suspension bridge over the Machchu river collapsed days after it reopened following repairs.

As per the company website, Odhavji Bhai R Patel started the manufacture of wall clocks. Oreva is known as the owner of two famous brands under which it makes wall clocks -- Ajanta and Orpat. The company later on diversified into various other verticals as well, such as lighting products, e-bikes, home appliances, electrical accessories, and other electrical products like telephones, calculators and more.

The company also claims to have a strong infrastructure, with one of the largest manufacturing plants in India.

Also read: Morbi bridge collapse: Oreva manager says ‘will of God’ led to the incident

Also read: 'Doing temporary repairs’: What Oreva said to Morbi collector in Jan 2020 letter