I am a master in India

Chapter 468 Repudiation
India faced severe power shortages in the 90s, and the government specifically allowed 100% foreign ownership to encourage capital investment in the electricity market.

Dabor Power, an investment of Enron, was born out of this context.

Negotiations for the project began as early as 83, the contract was signed in 95, and it was put into use in 99.

In less than two years, Dabor Power, which had invested $30 billion, was already struggling to survive.

When the agreement was signed, Enron and the Maharashtra government agreed that the latter would purchase electricity from the Dabor power plant for 10 cents.

The agreement also includes a supplementary clause regarding a minimum purchase volume, stipulating that Mabang Electricity Company must purchase sufficient Dabor Electricity even when there is no power shortage.

Throughout the contract, most of the terms were highly favorable to Enron.

To ensure the project's successful operation, the Indian government also provided a counter-guarantee for the contract.

For example, if Maharashtra Power Company is unable to fulfill the terms of the contract, the Indian government will act as a safety net.

This shows how scarce India's domestic power resources were at the time, and the government provided extremely preferential policies.

However, the unit of measurement in the electricity sales agreement is US dollars.

Regardless of how the rupee exchange rate changes, the Maharashtra government's purchase price is 10 US cents per kilowatt-hour.

Five years ago, 10 cents was worth 2.7 rupees, but today it is worth 4.5 rupees.

That's the problem; the rupee has been depreciating.

Five years ago, Mabang Electricity Company bought electricity at a price of 2.7 rupees, which was profitable.

Five years later, they purchased it for 4.5 rupees, but not only did they not make a profit, they also lost money.

With the entry of companies like Sur, Reliance, and Adani into the electricity market, electricity prices in India have long since dropped to around 3 rupees.

The Mabang Electric Company bought electricity for 10 cents, but could only sell it at a loss; the more they sold, the more they lost.

In just two years, this state-owned company lost a billion dollars, a figure that shocked everyone.

Without a doubt, given the nature of Indians, even a state-owned company wouldn't be willing to be taken advantage of.

Mabang Power Company refused to pay, demanding that Dabor reduce their purchase price.

The head office disagreed and demanded that Mabang Power Company abide by the spirit of the contract and repay the debt.

These Western capitalists have their cake and eat it too, because that's what the contract stipulated.

Moreover, Enron's situation in Europe is not good either, with numerous internal problems and an urgent need for a large amount of funds to recover.

How could they possibly give up this lucrative opportunity? Now that the Maharashtra government is being stubborn, they'll go after the Delhi government.

Since they provided a counter-guarantee in the first place, Delhi, as the highest authority in the country, couldn't very well go back on its word.

Upon hearing the news, Ron immediately called New Delhi.

"Absolutely ignore them! Those vampires were malicious from the start!"

“Those idiots in the Congress Party only know how to sign contracts, but they never thought this day would come.”

"So why should we take the blame for this mistake? That's their problem!" Ron added fuel to the fire from behind.

“New Delhi has not yet responded to Enron, but I suspect they will not let this go.”

"So what? This is India."

“You mean…” Vajpayee drawled.

"I think Enron has ulterior motives and they are harming India's interests."

"That's right, this is a matter of sovereignty!"

In an instant, the two were of one mind.

They're refusing to pay!

This is a good excuse; the question is that it concerns sovereignty.

"But this matter needs to be dealt with sooner or later. Bring your phone."

“How can India’s energy market be handed over to outsiders? Sur Power is a very good company, and I guarantee that we will have a very pleasant cooperation with Maharashtra.”

“That might take a while,” Vajpayee reminded him.

"It's alright, they can't hold out for long. Enron's headquarters is in dire straits right now."

"Okay, they definitely won't get past New Delhi."

"Long live India!" Ron shouted with heartfelt emotion.

In just a few words, the fate of this $30 billion power company was sealed.

Back when construction was underway, the Indian Communist Party hastily came to power and suspended the project on the grounds of "corruption" and "damage to national interests," causing the project to stall for nearly a year.

Although the project was later restarted, it resulted in Enron losing nearly $500 million.

The BJP has already swindled Enron once, and now it's doing the same thing again without any remorse.

As for Ron, he's just a competent Indian.

How could he take over Enron's enormous assets without bankrupting the company?

When Dabor Power was designed, it had a total generating capacity of over 2000 megawatts, almost five or six times that of Suer Power today.

It's too tempting. If we swallow it, Suhr Power will become India's largest private power company.

Of course, after receiving the benefits, it is inevitable that a portion of the profits will be shared with the government; this is an unspoken understanding between the two parties.

This is how all large Indian conglomerates grow—Tata, Reliance—who hasn't swallowed up foreign companies? Ron is acting purely out of Indian values; he's doing it for the country's honor!
After reaching a private agreement, New Delhi stopped paying attention to Enron's compensation claims.

The other party did not give up easily and filed a lawsuit against the Indian government in a London court.

Of course, Britain defended its own people and swiftly held a trial to order the Indian government to fulfill its contractual obligations.

New Delhi completely ignored them and refused to comply with the ruling, citing "sovereign immunity."

So-called sovereign immunity is just a euphemism for defaulting on a debt.

When Enron's first plan failed, he went to the US government to put pressure on New Delhi, but New Delhi remained unmoved.

India may be backward, but it is also a sovereign country.

In terms of national self-confidence, Bharat is virtually unrivaled.

The BJP doesn't take this paper tiger seriously at all. Do you really think you'd attack India for the sake of a power company?

This was destined to be a mess, and Enron had no way to deal with the Indian government.

Ron has already been secretly having his men take stock of Dabor Power Company's assets to make it easier to take action later.

Meanwhile, good news also came from Rana, who had toured South Africa and Brazil: he had found a large iron ore mine and coalfield.

Now we're just waiting for Ron to send his team of experts to explore the area. Once the details are finalized, both sides can get the business going.

With electricity, steel, and coal, Suer has finally taken a big step forward in traditional industries.

As long as things go smoothly, even if globalization impacts Suer Electric, it won't affect his wealth and status.

Just as Ron was plotting to take over Dabor Power Company, he was also worrying about something else.

A major earthquake struck Gujarat earlier this year, killing 20,000 to 30,000 people.

This number is alarming, but considering the quality of Indian housing, it makes sense.

Nearly 170,000 people were injured, including 27,000 seriously. This means the death toll could double, potentially exceeding 60,000.

The town of Puje, near the epicenter, was almost completely razed to the ground, millions of homes were destroyed, and millions of people were displaced.

Unfortunately, the port of Mundra in Adani was located near the epicenter, and the facilities inside the port, such as the oil refinery, suffered heavy damage.

Jamnagel, separated by a bay, was also within the disaster area.

Although not as devastating as Port Mundra, it still suffered losses.

The Suer Industrial Park, built there, was forced to halt construction for three months, and much of the equipment needed to be recalibrated.

Fortunately, only a few hundred people were injured and the death toll did not exceed one hundred, so it did not cause too much chaos.

When the park was built, Ron did not cut corners, and the earthquake resistance of the buildings was no less than that of the state government.

Although the losses have been minimized, there will still be losses of tens of billions of rupees.

Ron had no precognitive abilities, and he didn't know that a major earthquake would occur in Gujarat.

To avoid being caught unprepared in the event of a similar disaster in the future, he has already begun inspecting the construction quality of each branch factory.

I don't expect it to be 100% effective against all kinds of disasters, just not too ineffective.

Another major event occurred in September, attracting worldwide attention.

The images of the plane crashing into the Twin Towers spread around the world, and for the first time, people had a sufficient understanding of the damage caused by terrorist attacks.

The organization that orchestrated this case is wanted globally, and Baba Yang is also implicated, with rumors suggesting he supported the organization.

Although the north vehemently denies it, the various forces hidden within its territory live in constant fear.

Daoud was the first to be targeted, as he had a prior record.

He has funded separatist forces among herders on more than one occasion, and the United States has seized on this as a pretext.

Perhaps influenced by the 9/11 attacks, the U.S. government directly released the latest news that Daoud was hiding in Karachi and his Baba sheep passport number.

The leaders of the Daoud gang lived a precarious life, constantly fearing internal strife and assassination by Rajan's men.

They also feared that their host, Baba Sheep, might secretly execute them or hand them over to the Indian government as a diplomatic gesture of goodwill from Pakistan.

They were so adept at exploiting panic that they made a living by creating it, using it to blackmail desperate extortion targets into paying ransoms of millions of rupees.

Now, this panic has finally backfired on them, relentlessly pursuing them day and night.

Rajon Ronnie's team was jumping around, seeing a great opportunity to take down their arch-rival in one fell swoop.

Then in September, Shakir struck first. His men stormed into a luxury mansion in Bangkok, aimed their guns at Rajan, who was attending a dinner party, and the bullets pierced the latter's body.

As the rioters broke down doors and went on a killing spree, they didn't forget to keep their cell phones on, allowing Shakir, who was stationed in Karachi, to hear the wails of the traitor Rajan, as if they were the most beautiful music in the world.

But just like in Indian gangster movies, Rajan, whose life was not meant to end, jumped off the balcony and fled overnight despite the excruciating pain from his broken legs.

It is said that his most recent public appearance was in Luxembourg, where he was still remotely controlling his remaining forces in Mumbai by phone.

Salem, who had ordered the assassination of Chopra and threatened Sanjay Dutt not to leave the country, was arrested in Lisbon and is now awaiting extradition.

Salem was accompanied by a Bollywood actress when he was arrested; even on his deathbed, he was still obsessed with the entertainment industry.

Ron ate his fill of gossip, then packed his bags and prepared to fly to Bangalore.

The special economic zone he was in there was already in operation.

That's Suer Properties' biggest investment to date, he has to go and see.

(End of this chapter)