National General Industries commenced operations as a sole proprietorship concern in 1967 by Ashok Kumar Gupta, which was converted into a partnership firm in 1986. The firm was in the business of rolling constructional steels. A private limited company, National General Industries Pvt Ltd, was formally created and deployed as a legal entity in Jan.'87 to take over the business of the joint stock company. Subsequently, it was converted into a public limited company in Sep.'93. In 1987-88, the original promoters transferred majority of their shareholding in favour of A K Modi, P K Modi and their family members.

When the present promoters assumed full control of the management of the company, a 450 mm rolling mill and a 250 mm rolling mill were in operation. The production capacity was 9600 tpa. A 300 mm rolling mill was installed in Sep.'94, replacing the 250 mm rolling mill and also modified the billet re-heating furnace, which enhanced the capacity to 15,000 tpa. The company replaced the 300 mm rolling mill with a 325 mm rolling mill in May '95. Presently, the company produces round and square billets at its 325 mm and 450 mm rolling mills, at Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh.

An expansion-cum-diversification project was undertaken by the company in 1995-96, to expand the capacity of the rolling mills from 15,000 tpa to 33,000 tpa and setting up a forging unit with a capacity of 2240 tpa. It came out with a public issue in Feb.'96 to part-finance its project and to augment long term working capital.

In 1997-98, inspite of the bad economical conditions which adversely effected the steel industry's growth, the profit after tax of the company has increased by over 43% as compare to the previous year.