Hindustan Motors Limited (HML), India's pioneering automobile manufacturing company and Flagship Company of the C.K. Birla Group was established in 1942. Commencing operations in a small assembly plant in Port Okha near Gujarat, the manufacturing facilities later moved to Uttarpara, West Bengal in 1948, where it began the production of the Ambassador. The company was the largest car manufacturer in India before the rise of Maruti Udyog and was a leader in car sales in India until the 1980s.