I am a master in India

Chapter 196 Plot
"Harus, how much money do we have left in our account?"

"The combined value from several banks is approximately 80 million yuan, but we need to set aside enough for two months of operating costs."

Harus, who was in charge of finance, typed away on his calculator. Two minutes later, he looked up and said, "Sixty million. Any more and Suer Electric's cash flow will be at risk."

Sixty million rupees—that's the profit Suer Electric has made over the past six months, and it's tax-free.

This is thanks to Hruuru's "import substitution" policy, which encouraged Indian domestic companies to fill the gaps in foreign technology.

Ron's Suer Electric Appliances belongs to the "first tier" industries designated by the government, which allows it to enjoy certain preferential treatment in terms of taxation and loans.

The Congress Party still holds a dominant position in New Delhi, and this incentive policy remains in effect.

“Get this money ready; we’ll need it soon,” Ron instructed him.

"Boss" Harus hesitated, as if he wanted to say something but then stopped.

"Speak directly if you have anything to say."

"Are you in some kind of trouble?" he asked cautiously.

"Why would you think that?" Ron asked curiously.

"Mumbai is in a lot of trouble lately, you know. Those gangs target rich people, and they extort and do all sorts of evil things."

"So you're worried I'll be blackmailed?" Ron chuckled.

"The news is reporting that those gangs are getting bolder and bolder lately, and I heard that Daoud is behind it all."

"Dawood? Isn't he already wanted by the Indian government?" Ron had heard Ajay mention him.

"He fled north," Harus said mysteriously.

"You mean Barba sheep?" Ron asked, somewhat surprised.

"Yes, the Indian government is pressuring Dubai to hand over the man. He dared not stay there any longer and had to flee north."

"It seems that the Mumbai bombings were indeed supported by Barbayang."

"That's what the news says too. In short, Daoud is now fearless, and there are rumors that he is intentionally retaliating against the Mumbai government."

"This guy is insane. Why do his men still listen to him? Their boss is practically a traitor."

“Boss, the people in the Daoud gang are all herders. Do you expect herders to be patriotic?” Harus was not surprised at all.

In his eyes, or rather in the eyes of the vast majority of Hindus, herdsmen could not possibly be patriotic.

No matter where they are, herders are herders first and foremost; the nation and the people are secondary to them.

They placed too much emphasis on their religious beliefs, which blurred their concepts of nation and ethnicity.

Ron didn’t know if this was prejudice, but most people around him thought so.

"Don't worry, none of the gangs in Mumbai are stupid enough to come after me." Ron waved his hand dismissively.

He had a close relationship with Khad Khan and could speak to Sakray. Both the legitimate and criminal worlds gave him some face.

Extortion and blackmail will never come to his attention; those gangsters aren't stupid.

Harus slapped his forehead; he had almost forgotten his boss's illustrious reputation in Mumbai.

"Boss, you're a good person, the gang won't make things difficult for you."

"Alright, go and call Ashish over." Ron waved his hand.

A short while later, Ashish, all excited, entered the office.

“What are the workers in the slums saying?” Ron asked.

“They couldn’t ask for more!” Ashish assured, patting his chest. “The employee community of the Suer Electric Factory is something many people wouldn’t even dare to dream of.”

"That's good, that gives us a better chance of success."

The 200-plus acres of land are enough for Ron to build a Suer Electric Industrial Park.

In addition to factories, office buildings, and R&D centers, this park will also have supporting facilities such as employee dormitories.

Workers can move into the staff dormitory by paying a certain amount of rent each month, with the money deducted directly from their wages.

Compared to the wooden houses we have now, brick buildings are definitely more attractive.

They will no longer have to worry about intermittent water and electricity supply, nor will they have to fear that one day their legal slums will be suddenly shut down.

The only downside is the high rent, but it's all worth it.

People in slums desperately long for a permanent place to live, a place that feels like home.

For them, moving into an apartment building is equivalent to achieving a leap in social class.

Moving from the bottom to the middle class has been the dream of generations.

“The problem is the illegal slums,” Ashish said with some distress. “They’re all unwilling to leave.”

"Even if the legal slums are moved?" Ron frowned. "How will they survive without workers to consume their money?"

"That's better than being homeless. They'll never go back to being sidewalk residents."

“What about the municipal council?” Ron thought of Kelner, the “demolition king.”

“They can’t demolish a slum housing 20,000 to 30,000 people all at once; they don’t have that many people,” Ashish subtly reminded them.

There are too many people. If we take a hard line, demonstrations and protests will be the most moderate outcome.

It could potentially cause riots, something neither the city council nor Ron wants to see.

Well, Ron never imagined he'd be grappling with the problems of the slums one day.

Perhaps he should have driven those people away, but it was difficult for him to do so. Because that wasteland did not belong to him; he had no right to it.

"This matter can only be resolved by the Mumbai government. Let's first plan our internal affairs."

Ron decided to include it as one of the conditions for later negotiations, as it would be difficult for him alone to leverage the slums of tens of thousands of people.

If only there were a way to have the best of both worlds, he wouldn't want to be on the opposite side of the slums.

Putting that worry aside, Ron called an official in the city development department.

Such large-scale land transactions are beyond the control of the municipal company alone.

Sure enough, after asking a few questions, Ron's brow furrowed even deeper. The land he wanted was too large, requiring coordination among multiple departments, including the municipal corporation, the city development bureau, and the housing and regional development bureau.

Who can command so many public sectors at once? Only the Chief Minister of Maharashtra.

Damn it, Ron is almost done with all the big shots in Mumbai.

Unfortunately, Chief Minister Sharad Pawar was not in Mumbai at the time; he was currently residing at the ministerial residence in New Delhi.

Ron also inquired about the transaction prices of industrial land in Mumbai, for example, near Suer Electric, where it was about 40 rupees per acre.

This price was only slightly cheaper than when the textile factory was originally purchased, and that was despite the impact of the bombing.

Land in Mumbai is very valuable, much more valuable than in Uttar Pradesh.

If Ron wants to acquire those 200 acres of wasteland, he'll need to prepare at least 80 million rupees.

Looking at the sixty million in the account, Ron lamented that there would never be enough money.

He could certainly take out a loan, but the problem is that he recently borrowed 30 million from the national bank.

This money was intended for a cement plant in Uttar Pradesh, under the pretext of expanding Suer Electric.

In other words, if he buys the land, he can no longer use the Suer Electric Appliances front.

It's a bit tricky. Perhaps he can wait a few more months until Suer Electric has more funds on its books.

But that takes time, and after buying the land, he can't just wait around; he needs another huge sum of money to build it.

If we wait like this, it might be two years before we can discuss this deal again.

Who knows if things will change by then? There are more and more active businessmen in India now, and it would be bad if a competitor emerged.

After thinking about it, Ron decided to call Mumbai's mayor, Shavan, to ask.

These days, there are no honest people doing business in India; of course, they have to resort to crooked methods.

On the phone, Sawan promised him that he would introduce him to someone who could speak with the Chief Minister of Maharashtra.

It doesn't matter if there's not enough money; just deal with the person holding the seal.

It would be best not to spend a single penny; Ron still needs to keep some money to develop the Sue Park.

Buying land costs money, and so does building.

Shavan reminded him that if he wanted to get what he wanted, he would have better come up with a compelling and convincing development plan.

Okay, the big picture needs to be drawn up in advance.

Ron planned to speak with Rahul, the city planner from Mumbai who was well-known internationally.

But just as he picked up the phone, Luca showed up.

"Dude, have you forgotten you also have a pharmaceutical business?"

"Of course I haven't forgotten, but didn't you say there was some problem in Brazil that needed to be solved?"

Since Anand and his team went to Brazil two months ago, they have not yet made preparations for their next voyage.

Luca said his brother is facing competition from his peers in Brazil and is currently working to resolve the issue.

Ron vaguely remembered that back in April, Luca had mentioned that someone from Brazil was looking for generic drug distribution channels in New Delhi.

After more than six months, the competition between the two sides seems to have reached a fever pitch.

“There’s definitely no problem with my brother, but we have another business.”

“You mean…” Ron seemed to remember something.

“Merck, their lab is about to be operational,” Luca reminded him.

“Oh!” Ron exclaimed, “I almost forgot about that.”

"Look, even if we don't have the pharmaceutical business, we still have the medicine people business."

In Luca's eyes, there was no difference between the two; they were both earning US dollars.

The same is true for Ron.

Given his current status, he shouldn't be interested in this kind of shady business.

But this is in US dollars, and with the tourism industry in a slump, it's his only way to earn dollars.

He lacks rupees, but he lacks dollars even more.

"So they need more manpower recently?" Ron asked.

"At least 100 people."

"So many?" Ron was startled.

As far as he knew, new clinical drugs in Europe and America were usually developed in batches of twenty or thirty people.

"If Merck wants to speed things up, they can only rely on people to generate data. There's a lot to learn in this, man."

“100 people,” Ron sighed. “Any requirements?”

"This is Phase I clinical trials, which, in their words, is to assess the safety of the drug. So it requires completely healthy people, but considering that it is an oncology drug, there will be about ten patients."

The development of new drugs involves three experimental cycles in the clinical stage. Phase I requires the fewest participants, and they are mostly healthy individuals.

The number of participants in the second phase may reach several hundred. This phase mainly verifies the efficacy, which requires patient participation.

It wouldn't be surprising if there were even more in the third phase, with thousands of people involved.

According to their agreement with Merck, the first and second phases of the payment were the highest per capita fees, ranging from three to five thousand US dollars.

Phase III trials involve too many participants, and after several years of development, the safety of the drug has been greatly improved. At this point, the cost per person may only be a few hundred dollars.

Merck placed the two most dangerous phases in India, which is when Ron and his team needed to play the role of local strongmen.

"I'll call Anand over the next couple of days, and we'll go for a stroll through the slums together."

Fine, if you're doing business in India, you'd better throw away your conscience.

(End of this chapter)