In 1959, as smoke billowed from the blast furnaces of the newly inaugurated Rourkela Steel Plant, India's then prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, walked through rows of German-built machinery alongside engineers from West Germany. The plant, one of the South Asian nation's first large-scale industrial ventures, was more than a steel factory it was a symbol of post-independence ambition and international collaboration. Nehru called it a "temple of modern India," a place where German technical expertise met Indian determination, forging a legacy of industrial partnership that has endured for over six decades.