Braithwaite was established in 1913 as the Indian Subsidiary of Braithwaite & Co. Engineers Limited (U.K.), for undertaking fabrication of Structural Steel Works. The Clive works in Calcutta commenced manufacture of wagons for Indian Railways from 1934.

In the meanwhile the Company was incorporated in erstwhile Bengal as Braithwaite & Co (India) Ltd on February 28, 1930. In the year 1960 Braithwaite's Angus Works located at Bhadreswar, Dist. Hooghly was setup for manufacture of Cranes, Foundry products, Machinery Components etc. The Project Division at Calcutta was established in 1978 to execute turnkey projects for material handling plants. In 1987 Victoria Works was taken over, which is equipped with all facilities for manufacture of Pressure Vessels, Railway Wagons and Heavy Structurals for Bridges and other engineering applications.

Braithwaite & Co Limited was registered and incorporated on 1st December 1976 as a fully owned Govt. of India Undertaking. The company today has three units - Clive Works, Victoria Works both in Calcutta and Angus Works (in Hooghly District), West Bengal. With effect from 6th August, 2010 the administrative control of the company has been taken over by the Ministry of Railways.