The Tolani Group, with its base in Mumbai, India, commenced its business activities in the late 1940’s in the name & style of P.S.Tolani & Co. and N.P.Tolani & Co. both specializing in engineering & construction works. 

Tolani Private Limited incorporated in the early 1960s acquired the partnership firm of Tolani & Co. and undertook the construction of several irrigation projects in the States of Maharashtra and Gujarat.

Under the stewardship of Dr. Nandlal P. Tolani as Managing Director, the Organization became a leader in this field of business by introducing scientific management techniques and enlightened personnel policies. 

Motivated by a vision of transforming to a professional business enterprise with a strong asset based foundation, TolaniPrivate Limited forayed into the business of ship owning & ship operations and the business of river transportation with self-propelled barges. 

In the year 1968, the Company’s first acquisitions were outright purchases of two seventeen year old tween-decker steamships of about 9,000 DWT each for a princely sum of Rs.82 lakhs for plying on the coast and five new self-propelled ore-carrying barges from Goa shipyard for inland water transport of iron-ore in Goa. The fleet of barges gradually increased to 13, making the Company the largest barge owner in India at the time.

The mid-seventies saw the Company expanding into foreign going worldwide trade. Among the first few vessels acquired for this purpose was a sophisticated UMS Class/Craned 19,618 DWT Bulk Carrier, the first of its kind in the Indian Fleet. 

Tolani Shipping Company Limited (TSCL) was incorporated in 1974; in the year 1977 it became a wholly owned subsidiary of Tolani Limited. Over the next several years, the Company acquired additional vessels, all under the Indian Flag, to expand and continually renew the fleet. The Company had built and chosen to maintain domain expertise in dry bulk shipping.

All the while, the Company remained a highly diversified enterprise with interests in heavy engineering construction, real estate, garments and export of diamonds. During the unprecedented recession in the Shipping Industry between 1982 and 1987, Tolani Limited gradually phased out its diversified activities of real estate, engineering construction, exports and trading to concentrate in the Group’s shipping activity and keep it in a viable state.

Today TSCL remains as the flagship company of the Tolani Group with its activities remaining focused on ship owning, ship operations and ship management.

TSCL Holdings Pte. Ltd., a 100% subsidiary company of TSCLhas been incorporated in Singapore in 2019 to own two vessels under the Singapore flag.