chapter 2

  "Uncle Singh, I'm serious." jogo said seriously, "If the bank doesn't help us, we will definitely not be able to get the 500,000, because we I have nothing left. If I borrow another 200,000 rupees, I believe that with my father's reputation and management over the years, he will definitely be able to repay the principal with interest in a few years, no, just one year." Singh couldn't help but look at it with some surprise

  jogo glanced at him, and this kid was threatening him.

  But what he said made sense.

  If the regulations are followed and all the Gupta family's property is taken away, the bank will still lose more than 500,000 rupees. How can you expect a family living in a slum to pay back so much money?

  This becomes a bad account.

  Banks have assessments for loans. As a credit manager, he knows this very well.

  "The last time your father was able to lend so much, it was actually because of my long-term friendship with him. Of course, your father is an honest man and has credibility, which is why I dared to borrow more. It's a pity that he is too impulsive. , He was not like this before." Singer still did not directly answer jogo's request.

  In fact, India's economic reforms began in the early 1980s, but they were not as intensive as in 1991.

  Last year, we relaxed restrictions on private enterprises, vigorously introduced foreign investment and foreign advanced technology, and reformed public enterprises.

  This provides great opportunities for private enterprises to grow.

  Bank loans are beginning to favor some private companies, but it is often those large private companies that want bank loans.

  Small and medium-sized enterprises still have little chance.

  Like the old Gupta, this loan is equivalent to a credit loan. After all, the value of the collateral is far less than the loan amount.

  Originally, it was impossible for a small workshop owner like him to get a credit loan from the bank. The main reason was the relationship between Singer and him.

  Small businesses that want to get loans usually get them from large private companies.

  Because large private companies can easily obtain low-interest credit loans from banks, they then lend the excess to others at high interest rates. Naturally, there is various collusion between government and business.

  India is very dark and complex in this regard.

  At the same time, the Indian government has revised the law to encourage small businesses to raise funds directly from the public to invest in various projects. It is basically raising funds. If it is illegal, then it doesn't matter.

  In addition to borrowing a sum of money from the bank last time, old Gupta also raised funds from many acquaintances around him.

  After the bankruptcy, these people raised funds to borrow money, but the old Gupta did not default. He sold cars, gold jewelry, and everything he could sell at home. The bank was really powerless.

  "My father has been cautious all his life, but~~" jogo didn't know what to say about this cheap father.

  "What kind of person do you think your father is, in terms of business?" Singer asked after thinking about it.

  Jogo stared at Singer for a while, then withdrew his gaze.

  He probably understood that if his answer didn't satisfy him, his request probably wouldn't go through.

  "I just said to be cautious, of course, it sounds nice. If it doesn't sound nice, then it means being conservative, traditional, timid, and short-sighted." jogo considered his words.

  jogo was not completely lying.

  India is a major cotton growing country, with output almost ranking second in the world, accounting for 25% of global cotton production.

  Mumbai is the center of India's cotton textile industry. There are a large number of related factories and enterprises here. The export of cotton and cotton textile products is one of the important sources of foreign exchange for India.

  The elder Gupta has five small workshops under his name, all of which produce cotton textiles, but none of the small workshops has more than seven employees.

  If it were in China, it could be merged into a small factory, but it's different in India.

  India's labor laws protect employees very well, and it is very difficult to fire an employee.

  Beyond that are the Indian trade unions.

  The trade union in India is a very powerful organization. It has the right to conduct collective bargaining with employers, demanding higher wages, improved working conditions, improved benefits, etc. If the negotiations fail to achieve satisfactory results, the trade union can organize a strike, and the strike will give the employer cause huge losses.

  Indian law stipulates that seven or more people can form a trade union. Therefore, in order to avoid these troubles, most small workshops will not have more than seven employees.

  This results in everyone being unwilling to make the company bigger and stronger.

  This is the case of the old Gupta, who was divided into five small workshops. The number of employees in each small workshop did not exceed the limit, so a union could not be established.

  This is a kind of taking advantage of loopholes.

  If the company gets bigger and has more than 100 employees, it will not be so easy to fire employees even if they make mistakes.

  The consent of the local government must be sought before dismissal. For the sake of employment and stability, the government often will not agree.

  There was such a news that an employee in India was still sleeping at the company after 11:00 in the morning. The boss fired him after repeated warnings were ineffective, and then the employee sued the court. Later, the court agreed with the employee's appeal and forced the factory to rehire. It was not until 17 years later that the factory successfully sued and fired the employees.

  Therefore, in many slightly larger companies, they will control the number of employees to less than 100, so that it is relatively easy to fire employees.

  India's labor law is friendly to employees, but it is a burden on enterprises, which makes enterprises unwilling to grow bigger and take more responsibilities. This is a contradiction.

  Singer was a little surprised. He didn't expect this kid to say such a thing. This is a completely negative evaluation for old Gupta.

  He and jogo are very familiar. After all, the relationship between the two of them is good, and they usually have contacts.

  This kid studies very well, and everyone said that he might be admitted to the best university in India, the Indian Institute of Technology.

  You must know that the acceptance rate of the Indian Institute of Technology is frighteningly low, and it is the most difficult university in the world, even more difficult than China's Tsinghua University and Peking University.

  Those who come out of polytechnics are the best of the best.

  There is a saying in India that goes like this: "Those who fail to pass the IIT will go to MIT."

  This is actually a yy of the Indians, but it also shows that the IIT is indeed very good.

  When the old Gupta couple talked about Jogo, they were very proud. They were very satisfied with their son. International school tuition is expensive, but it is also worth it.

  "A boy of this age is always a bit rebellious." Singer thought to himself, it was because of his rebellion that he gave his father such an evaluation.

  "In order to avoid troubles with labor laws and trade unions, my father had no plans to expand his business. This was because he was short-sighted and conservative. This time he made a breakthrough, but unfortunately he was irrational and was completely carried away by a little money. , fell into someone else's scam." Jogo continued.

  "So, your father is really not very good in your eyes." Singer said.

  "No, he still has many advantages, such as being honest, trustworthy, and not harsh on his employees. I believe Uncle Singh knows this." There is no blind

  disparagement. Of course, the elder Gupta has advantages.

  The wages of the employees in his workshop are about 20% higher than those of their counterparts. This is due to the kindness of old Gupta. Moreover, he himself started doing odd jobs in these small workshops, so he knows how difficult it is.

  After he developed himself, he still gave preferential treatment to these latecomers.

  To his business partners, old Gupta is very trustworthy, forthright in his work, and has a very good reputation.

  "Your father treats people sincerely and is a good man." Singer shook his head in agreement, and Jogo's evaluation was to the point.

  Here are some differences in India.

  Nodding in India means 'no' and 'disagree', while shaking the head means 'yes' and 'agree'.

  "What can you do even if you get 200,000 rupees?" Singh couldn't help asking when he saw that jogo didn't say anything.

  "Continue to make exports for the time being." Jogo replied immediately.

  "Export? Export of cotton textiles?" Singh asked again.

  "Yes, I believe I can pay off the loan within a year. Now I just need the deposit for stocking up." Jogo said.

  Jogo is not sure whether he can pay off the loan within one year, but now he can only put the satellite first.

  There are not many pais in the family.

  Indian currency Rupee, 1 Rupee is equal to 100 Pais.

  Therefore, they can only borrow money and try to make a comeback.

  "What do you think? I couldn't say no before. Based on your father's reputation, you can indeed get the goods with a smaller deposit. But now, even if you get the goods, I'm afraid you won't be able to export them." Singer sighed.

  Jogo didn't quite understand what Singh said. In his opinion, Singh was just looking for an excuse not to borrow 200,000 rupees.

  At this time, a piece of news came from the radio, which was broadcasting local news in Mumbai, about the port workers' strike demonstration.

  Hearing this, Singer pointed to the radio and said, "Did you hear that? It's a strike. Do you know why it's on strike?"

  Jogo immediately replied, "There's too little work on the docks, they can't support their families."

  "Then why are there fewer lives?" Singer explained, "The Suez Canal is blocked. I heard that it takes ten times more time for each boat to pass. Now there are countless boats queuing there, almost two It's been a month. Most of the goods at the port are sold to Europe. If the canal is blocked, it will be difficult for the ship to go out. If it goes around the Cape of Good Hope in Africa, the distance will increase too much and the freight will increase. Therefore, some of them are not too urgent. The goods such as cotton and cotton textiles in Europe have temporarily stopped receiving goods, which caused the goods at the port to pile up like mountains, and the warehouses were full. These workers are out of work. Your father's previous customers were all from Europe. It seems to be from the UK. Even if you have prepared the goods at this time, can you sell it?"

  jogo was stunned for a moment, he really didn't know about this.

  In this way, it is impossible for him to export to make money and pay off his debts. Even if Uncle Singh and his father have a good relationship, it is impossible to borrow 200,000 rupees for no reason.

  jogo opened his mouth and wanted to fight for it, but found that he could not convince the other party with a very effective reason.

  I have been thinking about foreign trade exports for almost a whole night and feel that there is a good chance.

  Unexpectedly, there was a problem on the Suez Canal side, which was beyond his expectation.

  This resulted in the complete bankruptcy of his possible self-rescue plan.

  Even if you have 200,000 rupees in your hand, what can you do?

  Jogo really hasn't thought about it yet.

  A huge blow and a bad start.

  "So, how can you pay off the debt?" Singer sighed a long time, "I really want to help you, but you can't."

  Jogo kept thinking in his mind, and he still didn't want to give up.

  The broadcast on the radio continued. When he saw the radio, he suddenly had an idea.

  "Uncle Singh, did I say we were going to sell it to the British? That group of liars." jogo said with a smile.

  "What do you mean?" jogos words made Singer confused for a while, "Then who are you selling to? The ship can't go." "

  Not all places have to go through the Suez Canal." jogo replied, " In fact, I had already contacted the Chinese when I came here."

  "Chinese?" Singer's eyes widened, this jump was a bit big.

  "Don't Uncle Singh know?" Jogo asked in surprise, "They have been in Mumbai for more than ten days." "

  I seem to have heard that a business delegation came for exchanges, hoping to promote trade exchanges between the two countries, but It seems like no one wants to do business with them." Singer thought for a while.

  India is resistant to the Chinese, and jogo knows this well.

  In 1962, after the Sino-Indian War, the relationship between the two countries was not good.

  Although the relationship has recovered a bit now, the Indian government and the people are still hostile. After all, India abruptly turned the war of aggression into a war to defend New Delhi.

  Some of them were mentioned in the broadcast just now, and some of them were thought of by jogo himself.

  The Mumbai government is not too enthusiastic about the Chinese business delegation. The matter of cooperation is just words without much practical action.

  Some officials even privately told some local factories and companies not to do business with the Chinese.

  "No one does business with them, isn't that just my chance?" Jogo said.

  "The people above are not willing, do you understand?" Singer frowned, of course he knew some inside information.

  "Uncle Singh, I remember that the Prime Minister mentioned China in his speech a few days ago, especially the rapid economic development after China's reform and opening up, which amazed him, and that he hopes to visit China to improve relations between the two countries. Enhance communication between the two sides." This is what jogo searched from the original owner's memory after hearing the news on the radio.

  He had seen the news in the Times of India at that time.

  There are many newspapers in India and they are written in a variety of languages.

  The official languages ​​of India are Hindi and English, and many states have their own local official languages.

  For example, Jogo's hometown of Gujarat speaks Gujarati.

  Mumbai is the capital of the state of Maharashtra, where Marathi is the official language.

  The original owner can speak Gujarati, Hindi, Marathi and English, and the English is very fluent and standard. The all-English education in international schools is not covered, so now Jogo has also inherited these four languages. Coupled with the original Chinese, it is equivalent to having five languages, which is an incredible achievement.

  Bhaskar Daily is the largest circulating Hindi newspaper in India and The Times of India is the largest circulating English newspaper in India.

  In terms of circulation, Bhaskar Daily is much larger than Times of India.

  However, in terms of status and influence, there is a certain gap between newspapers in Hindi and regional languages ​​and English newspapers. English still dominates media discourse.

  The Indian elite basically speaks English, so the main readership of The Times of India is India's middle and upper classes. Some major libraries and government agencies at home and abroad also often subscribe to this newspaper.

  Fraser International School subscribes, of course, to The Times of India.

  The current Prime Minister of India is Rajiv Gandhi. In fact, he paid an official visit to China from December 19 to 23, 1988. This was the first visit to China by an Indian Prime Minister in 34 years.

  This is an important turning point in the history of Sino-Indian relations. It ended the long-term hostility between the two countries and laid the foundation for the improvement and development of bilateral relations.

  (end of this chapter)