If you travel on Mumbai’s Central Railway line, chances are you’ve passed through Vikhroli. Today, it is surrounded by apartment towers, offices, factories, busy roads and one of Mumbai’s important railway connections.
But Vikhroli was not always an urban suburb.
Long before it became associated with Godrej, railway commuters and Mumbai’s growing eastern suburbs, the area was a landscape of villages, agriculture, salt producing areas and coastal wetlands.
Even the name Vikhroli has a much older story.
Historical references connect the modern name with an older form, “Vikharvali,” recorded in Mahikavati’s Bakhar, a Marathi chronicle associated with the history of the Mumbai and northern Konkan region. The exact linguistic journey from Vikharvali to Vikhroli, however, is not completely settled.
So how did Vikhroli get its name, and how did this once rural area become one of Mumbai’s best known eastern suburbs?
Let’s trace the story.
How Did Vikhroli Get Its Name?
The oldest part of the story takes us back several centuries.
The name Vikharvali appears in Mahikavati’s Bakhar, a Marathi historical chronicle dealing with the northern Konkan region. The work is considered an important source for studying the medieval history of the Mumbai region, although historians also caution that the text contains historical inaccuracies and should be used critically.
A modern historical account published by Mumbai Mirror also identifies Vikhroli as having been known as Vikharvali, and connects the name with the area’s older salt producing landscape. The Mumbai Mirror’s history of Mumbai’s salt lands provides additional context on the historical importance of salt production in the region.
Over time, the older name came to be written and pronounced as Vikhroli.
There are different explanations for the precise linguistic origin of the name. Some accounts connect the older form with the region’s saline landscape, while other local explanations suggest different interpretations.
For that reason, it is better to distinguish between what the historical record establishes and what remains a matter of interpretation.
What is clear is that the name Vikhroli is considerably older than the modern industrial and residential suburb that exists today.
Vikhroli Before the Factories
Modern Vikhroli can make it difficult to imagine what the area looked like before Mumbai expanded into its eastern suburbs.
The landscape was once far more rural and closely connected with the coastal environment.
The wider Mumbai region contained villages, agricultural land, salt producing areas, creeks and mangrove ecosystems. Communities in the area depended on farming, fishing, salt production and other activities connected to the surrounding wetlands and waterways.
The history of Mumbai’s salt lands gives us another clue about Vikhroli’s earlier landscape.
According to Mumbai Mirror, the name Vikharvali has been associated with the area’s saline character, while the wider region around Mumbai was historically important for salt production.
This means Vikhroli’s history did not begin with factories or the railway.
Its story was already centuries old.
The Godrej Connection Changed Vikhroli
The biggest transformation in Vikhroli’s modern history came in the 1940s.
Pirojsha Godrej acquired a major tract of land in Vikhroli through a public auction in 1941 to 1942. Godrej’s own historical material describes this acquisition as the foundation of the company’s large presence in the area.
The development that followed changed Vikhroli’s identity.
Industrial facilities were established, residential areas were developed for workers and their families, and the locality increasingly became associated with the Godrej name.
According to historical material published by Godrej, the land was developed as an industrial garden township while the company also began conserving the area’s mangrove ecosystem.
You can read more about Godrej’s history and its Vikhroli operations through its official Vikhroli history and sustainability information.
What had been a largely rural landscape was gradually becoming an industrial township connected to the expanding city of Bombay.
This was one of the most important turning points in Vikhroli’s history.
Why Is the Railway Station Called Vikhroli?
This is where the history of the place and the history of the railway station come together.
The railway station carries the name Vikhroli because it serves the locality itself.
The station became particularly important as Vikhroli developed into an industrial and residential area during the 20th century.
Some accounts also connect the station’s development with the growth of the Godrej industrial complex.
There is a commonly repeated story that the station could have been associated with Pirojsha Godrej’s name. However, the available sources do not provide enough independent evidence for us to present that version as established historical fact.
What can be said more confidently is that the existing place name Vikhroli survived the area’s transformation and became the name used for the railway station as well.
That is significant because the station’s name connects today’s busy suburban railway network with a much older settlement.
Vikhroli’s Railway Connection
The railway was important to Vikhroli’s transformation because it connected the locality more closely with the rest of Bombay.
As factories and residential settlements expanded, transportation became increasingly important.
Workers needed to travel between homes and workplaces. Goods needed to move between industrial facilities and other parts of the city. As Bombay’s population grew, suburban railway connections became increasingly important to the development of areas outside the historic city centre.
Vikhroli’s railway station therefore became more than a passenger stop.
It became part of the infrastructure that helped the locality develop into an urban suburb.
Historical accounts also mention the former Godrej railway sidings and their role in transporting materials associated with the industrial complex.
The station’s development is therefore closely connected with the larger story of Vikhroli’s industrialization.
A Timeline of Vikhroli’s Transformation
It is easier to understand Vikhroli’s history as a series of changes rather than a single event.
Centuries ago
The area existed as part of the network of settlements and landscapes around the Mumbai and northern Konkan region.
Historical records
The name Vikharvali appears in Mahikavati’s Bakhar, providing an important historical reference to the locality.
Early 20th century
The surrounding region remained closely connected with agriculture, salt production, villages and coastal ecosystems.
1941 to 1942
Pirojsha Godrej acquired a major tract of land in Vikhroli through a public auction.
1940s onward
Industrial and residential development associated with the Godrej enterprise transformed the locality.
Mid 20th century
Vikhroli increasingly became part of Mumbai’s expanding suburban and industrial landscape.
Today
Vikhroli combines residential neighborhoods, commercial development, industry, major transport links and a significant mangrove ecosystem.
The Other Side of Vikhroli: Its Mangroves
There is another part of Vikhroli’s history that is easy to overlook.
The locality is also home to a substantial mangrove ecosystem.
Godrej has documented decades of conservation work in the Vikhroli mangroves. Its latest biodiversity report says the Vikhroli ecosystem hosts more than 1,500 species across plants, birds, animals, amphibians and aquatic fauna.
The company says conservation efforts in the area have continued for decades, with current work focused on research, conservation and awareness.
You can read the latest information in Godrej Enterprises Group’s 2026 report on biodiversity conservation at its Vikhroli campus.
Godrej has also documented its earlier mangrove conservation work, including conservation efforts dating back to the 1940s. Godrej’s historical report on Vikhroli mangroves provides additional background.
The importance of these mangroves has also been documented in India’s biodiversity and conservation material. A Government of India biodiversity compendium describes the ecological role of the Godrej mangrove ecosystem around Vikhroli and neighboring areas.
This makes Vikhroli unusual within a city as densely developed as Mumbai.
An industrial and residential township exists alongside a significant coastal ecosystem.
From Village Landscape to Mumbai Suburb
Look at Vikhroli today and it is easy to see only the modern city.
There are residential complexes, offices, factories, schools, shopping areas, major roads and constant railway traffic.
But the area’s development happened in layers.
First came the older settlements and landscapes.
Then came agriculture and salt production.
Later came large scale land acquisition and industrial development.
Railways and roads strengthened Vikhroli’s connection with Bombay.
Residential development followed.
Eventually, the locality became part of the densely connected Mumbai metropolitan region.
The modern suburb is therefore the result of several different phases of development rather than a single transformation.
Why Is Vikhroli Important to Mumbai’s History?
Vikhroli offers a small scale example of how Mumbai itself grew.
The city’s expansion did not happen only through the development of its historic central districts. Villages, agricultural areas, industrial estates and coastal landscapes were gradually absorbed into the expanding metropolis.
Vikhroli shows that process particularly clearly.
Its history brings together:
- an old place name
- the rural landscape of the Mumbai region
- salt production and coastal wetlands
- the rise of industrial Bombay
- the Godrej enterprise
- suburban railway development
- residential expansion
- and the continuing presence of mangroves
That combination makes Vikhroli more than just another station on Mumbai’s Central Railway line.
So, How Did Vikhroli Get Its Name?
The safest historical answer is that Vikhroli developed from the older place name “Vikharvali,” which appears in historical accounts of the Mumbai and northern Konkan region.
The exact linguistic explanation behind the change from Vikharvali to Vikhroli is less certain, and different interpretations exist.
What is much clearer is that the name is older than modern Vikhroli’s factories, apartment buildings and busy railway station.
The Godrej development of the 1940s transformed the physical and economic character of the area, but the historic name remained.
Instead, Vikhroli carried its old identity into a completely new chapter of Mumbai’s history.
Today, when a Mumbai local stops at Vikhroli, thousands of passengers see a busy suburban station.
But underneath that modern landscape is a much older story, one that begins with a historic settlement name, passes through villages, salt lands and mangroves, and eventually leads to the industrial and urban Vikhroli we know today.
It is a story that shows how Mumbai’s suburbs were not simply built from scratch. They evolved from older communities, landscapes and place names that were gradually absorbed into one of the world’s great metropolitan regions.
Sources and Further Reading
This article draws on historical and institutional material from the following sources:
- Mumbai Mirror: The Assault on Mumbai’s Salt Lands
- Godrej: Vikhroli Mangroves and Biodiversity Conservation
- Godrej Enterprises Group: 2026 Vikhroli Biodiversity Report
- Government of India: Compendium of Other Effective Area-Based Conservation Measures
- Godrej Properties: Sustainability and Vikhroli Mangroves
- Research paper on spider diversity at the Godrej mangroves, Vikhroli
Neha Singh writes about Indian history, city origins, business histories and cultural stories. Her work focuses on researching historical records, archives, newspaper reports and institutional sources to explain how places, brands and traditions developed – Linkedin Profile
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