I am a master in India

Chapter 343: Explosive Development

Ron returned to Mumbai in September, just after the rainy season had ended.

The sunlight overhead pushed aside the heavy, damp rain clouds, turning the glass curtain walls into dazzling mirrors.

From a distance, the headquarters building of Suer Electric Appliances looks like a dazzling diamond, so bright that it's hard to open your eyes.

Ron looked down from the elevator, taking in most of the city's outline.

"Have the children started school?"

"Yes, the holiday is over, and it's the new semester now."

On the north side of the Suer Park, a large group of children in white school uniforms crossed the road. They played and frolicked, and their laughter seemed to be heard even from a distance.

They filed out from the Kama compound and the employee community of Suer Electric Appliances, and across the road were Suer Elementary and Middle Schools.

Teachers on duty maintained order at the school gate, while security guards in khaki uniforms were scattered along both sides of the road.

Passersby and cars would give way to the children; they were extremely patient and never honked, because their children were among them.

Lazhu looked at the lively children with an indescribable envy in her eyes.

She was already in her late twenties, and according to Indian custom, she should be a mother of several children at this age.

Ron was extremely strict in this regard, as if he didn't want to have children early.

"Cough, wait a little longer, there's been too much going on these past two years," Ron reassured her.

“Then I’ll have to have at least three. One child is too lonely,” Lazhu immediately said.

“Okay, okay.” Ron waved his hand dismissively.

Raju is still serving as his assistant, even though Ron already has a secretariat of eight professional secretaries.

But he was used to being waited on by Laju, so she was more like a personal assistant, responsible for Ron's daily life at Suer Electric Appliances.

Other work-related matters are handled by the actual secretary.

Ron was sentimental and kept Laju by his side.

Of course, her body is also incredibly flexible; she has never stopped practicing yoga.

He liked that feeling, like kneading dough, both stress-relieving and liberating.

The experience is hard to describe in words; it's simply irresistible.

When the elevator reached the top floor, Ron didn't go to his office first, but went to the conference center next door.

Suer Electric holds all its important large-scale conferences here, and it is equipped with all kinds of advanced facilities and technological equipment, which is beyond the comprehension of ordinary Indians.

The company's key management team was all present, including Ron's cousin, Ash.

He studied in the United States, so his knowledge and perspective are far beyond what ordinary people have.

Uttar Pradesh is not a suitable place for him, and cement plants and power plants cannot allow him to fully utilize his talents.

For consumer electronics companies like Suer Electric, this is a perfect fit.

He received high-tech training in the United States, which aligns well with the business philosophy of Suer Electric.

Ron had a personal motive for placing him here: to allow family members to gradually become involved in the management of Suer Electric Appliances.

Previously, almost no people from my hometown were allowed to come to Mumbai, which was ultimately not a good idea.

India is a family-based society, and you can never trust your family more than an outsider.

Yash himself was very satisfied with the arrangement; he liked Mumbai's modernity and prosperity.

Ron asked him to first serve as the administrative director of Suer Electric Appliances, so that he could become familiar with the company's management and personnel relations.

Other departments, such as technology, production, and sales, require high business skills and are not suitable for parachuting in people from outside.

This arrangement made Ashish very nervous, as his status as "brother-in-law" was in jeopardy.

So lately he has been talking to his sister, Lazhu, about things like children and the future.

Without children, how can his status as an uncle be confirmed?

He even gave Lazhu bad advice, such as making a hole in the small umbrella and secretly removing the protective clothing in the middle.

In short, Ashish is now very aware of the crisis. As soon as Ron came in, he ran to the head seat like a lackey, pulled out a chair, and took over all the secretary's work.

Laju rolled her eyes at him, then sat down next to Ron.

As Ron's personal assistant, she was qualified to attend such a meeting.

"Alright, everyone, let's talk about the situation of Suer Electric Appliances during this period."

"Boss, our financial growth is more significant compared to last year."

Harus, who was in charge of finance, stood up to report that Suer Electric Appliances was already a mature company.

Even without Ron, all departments are still functioning well.

He is now consciously delegating authority gradually, and except for major decisions, he no longer needs to review everything.

Production capacity adjustments, next year's budget, import and export trade, and new product development are all assessed and calculated by a professional team.

According to Halus's report, Suer Electric's financial growth in 96 was almost double that of the previous year.

The fundamental reason is that the branch factories in several states have gradually been completed, and more and more production lines have been put into operation.

There are 20 production lines for various TV models in Mumbai, 15 of which have been built in Madras, and the remaining ones are expected to be completed next year.

Gujarat has the most assembly lines in operation, with twenty-five. These lines primarily serve overseas trade, with demand surging this year from customers in the Persian Gulf and Africa.

The Sur Park in Gujarat is also the largest, and it may not be fully completed until 1998. It took four years from construction to 100% completion of the expected goals.

The smallest production line is in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, with only ten assembly lines and several parts production lines. Located inland, transportation is inconvenient. Most of the televisions produced there are absorbed by North India. Currently, Ron has no plans to further expand production in Uttar Pradesh, as the cost-effectiveness is not high.

Adding all these branch factories together, Suer Electric has a total of seventy television assembly lines in operation.

Based on current production capacity, the monthly output of all models of televisions, including black and white, color, 14-inch, 18-inch, and 21-inch models, exceeds 1.2 million units.

There is no doubt that Sullair is now India's largest television manufacturer.

70% of the television market is monopolized.

This percentage would have been even higher if other manufacturers hadn't also localized production.

However, not all of the 120 million television sets sold each month are consumed by the Indian market.

Exports to East Asia, Sri Lanka, the Arab world, and Africa reach as high as 500,000 units per month.

It must be said that overseas trade has broad prospects.

With both the domestic and overseas markets still growing, Suer Electric's expansion plans have never stopped.

Right now, let's just look at the figures on paper. Suer Electric's television business alone generates 60 billion rupees in profit every month.

This figure could have been higher, but the significant price drop in televisions this year has diluted Suer Electric's profits.

As technology iterates, televisions will become cheaper over time; this is an inevitable trend.

To maintain profits, one must either expand production capacity or explore overseas markets.

According to the internal team's estimates, Suer Electric's television business profits will reach their peak around the year 2000.

Then it gradually declines from the peak, but fortunately, Suer Electric's products are not limited to televisions.

The rice cooker and juicer businesses have also seen significant growth this year. In addition, with the addition of older products such as water-cooled air conditioners and electric fans, the profits are about one-third of those of television sets.

However, despite the seemingly high profits, Suer Electric has made large-scale investments in the past two years, spending a huge sum of money.

The various factories and equipment, totaling over 400 billion rupees, were financed by loans and paid in cash.

There was no other way; all the equipment and everything else was purchased from Dongda University, so there was no such thing as a loan.

It appears that there are eight or nine billion rupees in profit every month, but most of the funds are invested in the real economy.

Ron currently has less than 200 billion rupees in his account, and if he were to close out his bank loans, he might even be in the red.

There are still many places where money needs to be spent. Not to mention the expansion of the branch factory, money is being poured into the power plant in Uttar Pradesh and the port in Tamil Pradesh.

Conservative estimates suggest that the combined shortfall for these two projects is in the tens of billions of rupees.

Bank loans can only cover one-third of the problem; he has to pay the rest himself.

Did you think that was the end? No, it's just the beginning.

"Is the business department planning to open a branch factory in Kolkata?"

“Yes, boss, our production capacity in the east is too low. It’s difficult to meet the demand in the central and eastern regions by relying solely on Lucknow,” Ashish replied.

What is the expected scale?

"Similar to Gujarat, Kolkata is expected to remain a port city on the east coast, with some of its production capacity intended for export to Bangladesh."

Kolkata is also a major city in India. West Bengal is a wealthy state and close to the sea, making it a suitable location for Suer Electric's factory.

Ron glanced at the planning document; the investment was also in the hundreds of billions. The factory's design took into account both inland and overseas demand, making it Suer Electric's second largest production base.

"Each department should conduct an assessment. If there are no problems, construction will begin next year."

"Yes," Ashish replied.

As the team became more professional, it saved Ron most of his energy.

For example, in new product development, he didn't ask about any details, yet Suer Electric launched a multi-functional FM radio this year.

This was inspired by Sun TV and radio stations. Since starting the radio program, the number of listeners has exceeded expectations.

There are specialized research companies in Mumbai that, through specialized sampling surveys, estimate that Sun Radio's audience may exceed three million.

Not only did advertisers flock to the company, but Suer Electric also decided to include radios in its product range.

This thing doesn't require much technology; our internal R&D team could easily handle it.

They made the design more compact, added automatic frequency tuning, improved the sound quality, and even added an LCD screen.

The price isn't high, only six or seven hundred rupees, and it's selling quite well.

Because of the depreciation of the rupee, prices have risen, and the wages of ordinary workers have also increased significantly.

In short, a few hundred rupees now is completely incomparable to a few hundred rupees three or four years ago.

Radios are simply affordable appliances; everyone can afford them.

After fiddling with the new radio in his hand for a while, Ron was quite satisfied with the management team at Suer Electric.

At least they have good initiative and know how to continuously develop new products.

“Boss Luo, I think we could also consider pagers; they’re very suitable for India right now,” his cousin Yash suddenly said.

"What?" Ron was taken aback.

"A pager is a wireless pager system that allows users to know who is calling them, even when they are outside."

This kind of thing is very common in the United States, and it's even on the verge of being phased out.

When Ash learned that Ron had obtained a telecommunications license, he suddenly remembered this little thing; it was also a type of mobile communication.

(End of this chapter)