How Indian Artisans Grind Out Millions of Locks Each Year

There’s a reason why the city of Aligarh is called the “Land of Locks.”

Some 81 miles southeast of New Delhi lies the town of Aligarh. With a population around 875,000, the 53rd most populous city in India is easily eclipsed by the nearby capital and its 33 million inhabitants. But in its shadow, Aligarh has grown a world-renowned reputation for handmade locks. Every year, more than one lakh (or 100,000) of artisans fashion handmade locks, whether in huge factories or at kitchen tables. Today, the region fashions, hammers, grinds, and shines 75 percent of all the locks made in India.

By one estimate, over 6,400 registered companies form Aligarh’s reputation as Tala Nagri, or the “land of locks,” and the industry is deeply embedded in the town’s culture. With another estimated 3,000 households also working in the lock industry, it’s common to see tools of the trade, lock parts, and other accoutrement of the profession scattered about people’s homes.

Some say Aligarh’s lock-making origins date back to the era of Mughal rule (which ended in the mid-19th century), but historians know for sure that in 1870, the British company Johnson & Co. set up shop in the area. At first, the company was only established to import locks made in Britain to sell in India, but by 1890, the company began small batch production. Over the years, metal artisans incorporated more sophisticated machines and foreign techniques to become world-renowned lock makers. For decades, “Aligarh” was simply a synonym for quality.

Mostly made from brass (60 percent copper and 40 percent zinc to be precise), Aligarh locks come in many different shapes and are created for various use cases, whether padlocks, door locks, bicycle locks, puzzle locks, handcuff locks, and just intricately designed locks. Locks are usually put together in an assembly line, with one worker specialized in a particular aspect of the process. In a typical day, one skilled lock artisan can make up to 40 locks.

To make the locks, artisans use molds made from brass for the sand casting process, one of the oldest and most economical ways to make metal. Then, triple-lock mechanisms and levers (which are also handmade) are inserted by hand (and hammer), and the final product is filed, buffed, and shined to the desired finish. Aligarh’s makers even produce each key by hand.

Although making locks is a long and proud tradition in Aligarh, the industry faces gargantuan challenges. For decades, Aligarh has been rife with instances of child labor exploitation, which can be both developmentally and physically harmful to children. One report even found that 18 percent of the children are tasked with working a power press, a dangerous metalworking device.

Much of this desperation stems from the industry’s fading market as well as dual economic crises in recent years—India’s 2016 banknote demonetization and the Covid-19 pandemic. Coupling this bad news with increased production in countries like China (where locks are cheaper in both price and quality), Aligarh locks rarely reach ports further than neighboring Bangladesh or Sri Lanka.

For centuries, Aligarh’s locks offered its customers hand-crafted security for whatever they treasured most. Now, the “land of locks” hopes the Indian government will return the favor.

Darren lives in Portland, has a cat, and writes/edits about sci-fi and how our world works. You can find his previous stuff at Gizmodo and Paste if you look hard enough.

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