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From Howrah to the US, how manhole covers forged forward over decades

With costs around 20 to 60 per cent cheaper than what American manufacturers sought, India-made manhole covers became the preferred choice for cities across the United States, a 2007 report in the New York Times states

According to a report by the Global Casting Magazine, a trade publication focusing on foundry and related industries, published in February 2023, India is among the top three foundry producers in the world. (Representational photo: Wikimedia Commons/P sakthy)

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While walking down the streets of New York City, it isn’t uncommon to spot manhole covers with ‘NYC Sewer/Made in India’ inscribed on them. In fact, many such manholes with similar inscriptions on their covers are not only part of New York City’s landscape but are also found across the United States, from Alabama to California.

Interestingly, these sanitary castings come to the US all the way from West Bengal’s Howrah. For decades now, the district’s small-scale iron foundries have been manufacturing and supplying iron castings around the world.

How Howrah foundries came into existence

Howrah’s foundry industry is a story of how the Indian subcontinent’s first modern industrial centre developed. The subcontinent’s first iron foundry, or the open top furnace, was established in the Bengal province some 148 years ago. With Calcutta being the then capital during British colonial rule, it automatically meant that important industries would develop in the city’s peripheries. Archival documents of the industry indicate that till the mid 1900s, Bengal was the single largest producer of iron casting in India, contributing almost 80 per cent of the total produce in the subcontinent.

There were several logistical reasons why the foundry industry developed around Howrah. In his paper ‘Emergence of the small-scale iron foundry industry in Howrah (India), 1833–1913’, Sudhanshu Shekhar links the need for the foundry with the establishment of shipbuilding in 1823 in Calcutta, as well as the setting up of the railways.

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“The earliest foundry in Howrah was established in 1781 by Archibald Swinton. This was the firm that came to be known as Burn & Co. when Alexander Burn and Mr Curie became associated with it in 1799. However, as per available sources, it seems that the foundry did not survive for long and did not contribute to further development of the industry in Howrah. Even Burn & Co. had to start anew when they started a foundry in Howrah in 1846. The next foundry in Howrah was established only after 50 years,” writes Shekhar.

Availability of essential raw materials and skilled labour in the Bengal region during colonial rule were the other important reasons why the industry mushroomed in Howrah. More importantly, the highest coal producing states also came under the Bengal presidency, prior to 1905.

The mid-1800s witnessed the establishment of several foundries in Howrah, Shekhar writes, giving rise to an entire industry. It wasn’t limited only to the British, however. Enterprising Bengali businessmen also capitalised on the profits that the industry was bringing. “Large and diversified managing agencies established foundries as backward linkages to feed their related business of railways, shipping, and construction,” writes Shekhar.

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These large commercial enterprises created an internal demand that kept the foundries of Howrah running. After 1897, Indians began opening small-scale foundries, entering the business that had till then, been monopolised by the British.

Export of manhole covers

There is little clarity on when these foundries in Howrah began exporting overseas, specifically manhole covers to cities across the United States. But it is likely that it may have started around the early 1900s following the establishment of the first modern steel mill in Jamshedpur in 1912. With the help of the Soviet Union, Germany and the United Kingdom, public sector steel mills began coming up in the region that is now the West Bengal-Jharkhand belt. India’s requests for assistance to the United States resulted in refusals because of the country’s lack of interest in supporting public sector mills and its keenness to protect its private industry, writes Willy Logan, a Colorado-based historian focusing on technology, in his blog piece ‘Beyond the Manhole Cover’.

Post 1947, with subsequent increase in steel producing capacity, the Indian government decided to export iron and steel products manufactured in these foundries to tackle dwindling foreign exchange reserves. With low production costs, the export of manhole covers to overseas markets was profitable for these foundries.

With costs approximately 20 to 60 per cent cheaper than what American manufacturers demanded, Indian-made manhole covers became the preferred choice for cities across the United States, a 2007 report in the New York Times stated.

According to this report, some state laws in the United States require city governments to buy the lowest-priced products available that fit specifications and forbids the city from excluding companies based on where a product is manufactured, in this case, India.

In 2014, when Natasha Raheja’s documentary film ‘Cast in India’ was released, it brought wider attention to the presence of Indian-made manhole covers across the United States. Domestically in the US, it also drew criticism in some quarters, including from politicians, who said that instead of some Indian factories thousands of miles away from New York City benefiting from the business, American-made manhole covers ought to be used here.

But the debate regarding choosing American-made manhole covers over those manufactured abroad, including those in Howrah, have been ongoing in groups that focus on castings and foundry in the US for at least over three decades now. An Associated Press report from 1990, published in Argus-Press, a daily newspaper published in Owosso, Michigan, features a report titled “‘Foreign’ manhole covers the target”.

“There were virtually no imported manhole covers in 1970… Today, imports have taken over about a fourth of the American manhole cover market. Led by India, foreign manufacturers in 1989 brought in 129 million pounds of heavy construction castings, sewer grates and other utility caps… American foundries accuse those countries and others of dumping their product on the U.S. market at prices American manufacturers can’t meet,” the AP report said.

While changes have come to Howrah’s foundry industry, with some experts saying that its golden days are behind it, it is certainly not the end, they add. While exact numbers are hard to find, over 30 percent of India’s foundry units are still based in West Bengal, with over 250 functioning units.