Hind Decor

Nanik continued to expand his horizons. In keeping with his creative streak, he had a love for home décor. In 1972, the same year as he started Eastmen Art Emporium, Nanik stumbled upon an opportunity that enabled him to realize thislove.

It came in the form of an impulsive, impromptu decision. Nanik was sitting in a restaurant in Delhi, sharing a leisurely cup of tea with a friend, Shantilal Meckoni. The restaurant was very tastefully done and the two friends started discussing it. They jointly decided to start an interior decoration business — on the spur of the moment! And Hind Décor was born.

Nanik had first met Shantilal during a welfare program backed by the Jaycees. "We had undertaken a project of sweeping the municipal chawls. Because of the good work, our photograph had appeared prominently in the Times of India," recalls Nanik. "Shantibhai was a person who could easily floor anyone with his talk and flair. Because of his good marketing skills, he invariably made all the presentations to the clients."

Hind Décor coordinated its operations from the offices of Nanik Silk Industries at Kalbadevi. The firm soon bagged its first project at Peddar Road, an affluent residential neigh-bourhood in South Bombay. The work was highly appreciated and Hind Décor's good reputation spread. Soon, a workshop was opened in Sion. Lucrative offers trickled in at a steady pace.

Through his contacts at the Air India Building, Nanik learned that Air India was planning to redecorate its Maharaja Lounge at the Bombay International Airport. Nanik quickly drew up and filed a bid for the contract. He did this in the teeth of competition from some very reputed and established interior designers. Along with Shantilal, he was invited to make a presentation to a panel of officers that included Ramesh Pathare, a prominent architect working for Air India. Pathare was impressed by the duo's presentation, and Hind Décor was successful in bagging the contract!

"Of course, we were jubilant but at the same time anxious, because we could not afford to go wrong with such a high profile client. We carefully implemented the project in phases. Payments too were made in phases. Towards the finishing stages, I remember we had put all our available resources in the project, so much so that we did not even have Rs. 1,500 required to purchase a stainless steel sink — which was all that was required by us to finish the project and to present Air India with our bill. This roadblock proved very frustrating, but somehow we managed to raise the funds and overcome the crisis. The work was finally completed to the full satisfaction of all concerned," relates Nanik. After the successful Air India project, Hind Décor's list of clients increased steadily and its good reputation was firmly established.

Gaining Altitude

By the time he had turned 34, Nanik was making money and enjoying reasonable success in his ventures. None-theless, he felt there was something lacking. He did not want to be just another well-to-do businessman. There had to be a more defined, constructive and progressive structure to his career graph. He sought a line of business that would test his core strengths and demarcate his talents from the rest of the flock.

His interest in the line of interior décor was now waning. Clients were mostly unpunctual. This compelled him to waste precious hours in their waiting rooms. He was also dismayed to observe that though they had the affluence, they lacked aesthetic sense. He yearned to reach greater heights and realize the big dream that still eluded him. "At this stage my confidence was sky high. I felt that I could take any amount of risk. If any fingers were to burn, they would be mine. Essentially, I felt that I must move on to higher levels. In business, it is easy to slip into complacency and stagnate.

This prevents people from taking bigger risks and moving ahead. I did not want to suc-cumb to such a situation," he asserts.

As stated earlier, Hind Décor was operating out of the office of Nanik Silk Industries at Kalbadevi for the sake of convenience. Hind Décor's workmen and artisans were frequent visitors to the very same office that attracted exporters and high-profile clientele of Nanik Silk Industries. "This system was neither proper nor systematic, and was crying out for change," Nanik says. 

Hind Décor, in 1974, began to phase out of interior decoration. Nanik started to see an opportunity in the trading of mild steel products such as seamless pipes, angles and channels. Hind Décor metamorphosed into Hind Industries in 1975. The new firm was set to supply a full range of these products to a wide spectrum of clients. Hind Industries' main client was the renowned textile manufacturing company National Machinery Manufacturers (NMM which later became Mafatlal Industries). Once, NMM was unable to get a specific bearing — the 1XL10PE — from any of its regular sources. Its Purchasing Manager contacted Nanik, in the desperate hope that Hind Industries could come up with a solution.

 For Hind Industries, this request fell outside its sphere of business. Nanik welcomed the challenge. Using all his resources across the country, he finally got hold of one  1XL10PE bearing. NMM was delighted! A little later, it once again approached Nanik, this time with a request for switch-gear items that were in short supply. Once again, Nanik proved equal to the task and got NMM what it required.

Roopmeck Enterprises

These successes encouraged Nanik Rupani and Shantilal Meckoni to change their line of business. Hind Industries changed name to Roopmeck Enterprises and acquired its office premises at Dadar. The new firm, it was envisioned, would take up agencies of reputable electrical companies like Siemens. Using his contacts, Nanik spoke to the top management of the MNC about his proposal.

However, managers on the lower rungs in whose hands the real power of marketing operations lay, felt slighted. They immediately put Roopmeck to the test by giving it the agency for their electric motors and pumping sets.

As the pumping sets were especially designed for use in the agricultural sector, demand for them in the city was virtually zero. In fact, to encourage sales, Siemens offered eavy discounts on these products, even up to 50% of the  price! The junior managers at Siemens hoped that saddling Nanik with these slow moving products would discourage him, as he could not possibly succeed in selling a large number of pumping sets in the city.

Nanik proved equal to their challenge. He consulted professionals who came up with a way to put these pumps to excellent use. After a slight modification, the pumps were sold to realtors and builders, who used them to pump drinking water to the huge tanks situated on the terraces of buildings.

This innovative solution saved the day but also taught Nanik an important lesson: The hierarchy in a company should not be bypassed. Blatantly using a top contact creates resentment. "That is why we were given products that did not have a ready market. Roop-meck's business confidence and mettle were put to the test — I am happy the outcome was a win-win situation for us as well as for Siemens," Nanik says. To increase sales, Nanik asked Siemens to let Roopmeck expand its operations outside Bombay — to tap the vast agricultural market there. Siemens had complete faith in Nanik by now. This is how Roopmeck was appointed a dealer for the cities of Seoni in Madhya Pradesh, and Nagpur in Maharashtra. This feather in its cap helped Roopmeck Enterprises bag dealerships of other large manufacturers such as Crompton Greaves, English Electric, GEC and Philips. To accommodate its expanding operations, Roopmeck shifted its offices from Dadar to Nariman Point, the business heart of the city.

Efficient financial management was the foundation stone of all of Nanik's companies. He soon built up a formidable reputation, both as an astute businessman and as a trustworthy customer who paid on time. He was able to put finances to multiple use by timing his cash flow. The property in which his companies invested also multiplied in value.

Rupani Enterprises

As an elder brother, Nanik always assisted and backed his younger brother Balram. In 1979, Balram set up a plastic moulding unit at Wadala — Rupani Enterprises. Nanik and his nephew, Dayal Hemrajani, joined in as partners. Balram had left a systems implementation job with Mafatlal Computer Services in order to go into manufacturing.

Nanik relates: "Premises were acquired in Wadala to accommodate the factory, but our plans soon ran into stormy weather. Immediately after the acquisition, we discovered that the seller did not possess a clear title deed to the property in the first place. The Society that housed the complex brought this to our attention when we went to register with them. They latly refused to recognize our claim to the property. According  to their records, the property was not even registered in the name of the person who sold it to us … it was still in the name of the owner prior to him!

"We were in a real fix. It was a Herculean task navigating through the maze of bureaucracy in the various government departments, the Registrar of Co-operative Society, as well as the Society that housed our premises. It was a nightmare! After painstaking efforts, we were granted a clear title deed." Rupani Enterprises commenced operations at last! It manufactured injection-moulded containers for pharma-ceutical companies. It also blow-moulded lids of containers used for food and pharmaceutical products. The firm soon built up a good reputation.

Its workforce laboured full steam in three shifts. Nanik, who fully appreciated the value of treating his subordinates with fairness, assigned priority to the maintenance of cordial management-labour relations. Despite such care and good intentions, Rupani Enterprises was prey to circumstances beyond the management's control, which led to its eventual closure.

It all started when a young sweeper in the factory noticed that a machine operator had not reported to work that day. Taking the liberty, the sweeper went and started the machine himself. His half knowledge would have cost him his hand — he had a narrow escape — but he received an injury to the web of skin between his thumb and forefinger. Nanik, together with Balram and Dayal, left no stone unturned to ensure the treatment and welfare of the injured employee. The company paid his hospital bill, the cost for his plastic surgery and medicines. After recuperating, he resumed his duties at the factory.

Not long after this, the sweeper fell in love with a colleague from the packing department in the factory, and they got married. To wish the young couple well, the management arranged a small party. The sweeper, now twice a recipient of the management's consideration, began to see its generosity in a different light: He mistook kindness for weakness.

He began to assume airs against the management. He joined the labour union. In those days, unions had the unsavoury reputation of resorting to unruly and violent ways. Arming himself with a similar disposition, the sweeper sowed seeds of discontent amongst his fellow workers. Many sided with the presumptuous employee; a few remained loyal to the management.

Nanik tried his best to bridge the widening divide, but the Union was in no mood to listen, let alone budge from its unreasonable stand. The souring relations had a direct impact on production as well as profitability. The work force was informed that such dissent could no longer be tolerated. In a gesture of defiance, the Union members began to shout slogans outside Nanik's office at Nariman Point as well as his residence at Dutt Kutir, Wadala. It was a specially challenging time for Nanik and his family.

At this critical juncture, the sweeper was caught stealing raw material from the factory. The management then decided that the "bad apple" had to go, and informed the Union of its decision. The Union, in turn, told Nanik that it would not let management fire its man.

One evening, the factory closed for the weekly day off. The next working day, the management refused to open the doors. The suddenness of this brought the strikers to their senses — they finally realized that it was of no use to sacrifice the livelihood of the majority for the sake of one man. All of them, except the original instigator, approached the management with a plea to reverse its decision. But the situation was beyond repair. After all dues were paid to the workers, Rupani Enterprises shut down operations.

As Nanik always says, everything happens for the best, and this was no exception. After the closure of Rupani Enterprises, the brothers moved on to greener pastures in the field of technology — establishing Neutron in 1986, a venture that enjoyed far greater success. Chapter 7 des-cribes this in detail.

Contact Point

Nanik's vision and enterprise paved the way for the masses to enjoy the benefits of modern communication technology. Today, when owning a cell phone is so commonplace, it is easy to forget the times when India was like a desert in the world of communications. Even a simple landline was a luxury back then.

It began in 1988 during Nanik's meeting with Sam Pitroda in New Delhi. Sam and Nanik were discussing the way in which the world was darting ahead on the wings of communications technology, while India, regrettably, was sleepily dragging its feet. The quality of communications facilities in India was a major reason for concern. It was common knowledge that the communication services offered by the government at the local post offices were not up to the mark. It was not surprising to find a telephone instrument that was out-of-order, a state in which it remained for weeks on end. India desperately needed world-class communications infrastructure, affordable and readily available to all its citizens.

"On my return to Bombay, I discussed this with M. C. Venkatram, who was then the Chief General Manager of MTNL . He agreed that communications facilities in India were very inadequate and had a lot of catching up to do. We discussed establishing a modern communications center under the name of Contact Point. I offered a part of my office premises at Nariman Point for the same, and he readily agreed."

On November 27, 1988, Contact Point was launched by M. C. Venkatram at Nariman Point, Bombay. It was a landmark event, an absolute first of its kind in India, and was widely and enthusiastically reported on by all newspapers. The public could now make local, national and international telephone calls. They could also send and receive national and international telexes and faxes, all under one roof and at economical rates.

Nanik continues: "Contact Point was a runaway hit. It became immensely popular with the public; people would come all the way from the suburbs to avail of the facilities. Even foreign tourists found it to be a blessing and used it to communicate with their homeland. Many big and small businesses depended on Contact Point and were its frequent customers. Such was the demand that the office had to be kept open from 9 am to 10 pm, Monday to Saturday.

"Contact Point was the trendsetter. It paved the way for the private players to set up communication centers all over the country. Entrepreneurs wasted no time in sensing this new opportunity. Indeed, communication centers mush-roomed across the length and breadth of India, and that was our mission accomplished! Communication centers in every part of India, down to its smallest village, dispensing affordable and modern communication services to citizens is a reality today. Not only are they a boon to countless consumers, such centers have also provided employment opportunities to over a million Indians, including ones who are physically challenged."

Communication technology has traveled a long way since the days of Contact Point, which ceased operations as Nanik's other businesses grew, but the account illustrates how Nanik captured opportunities, not only to further his business interests, but to render valuable services to his country at the same time.

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