Here’s the story, in 2009 one of my friend & earliest client came to Delhi to bid on a contract to build an software to help farmers. Since he doesn’t know very good Hindi he asked me to went along for pre-tender meeting. I went along to humor myself since I hadn’t been to any closed door meetings before, it would be a good experience I said to myself. Now before I go in details about that meeting & how it changed my way of doing business ever since I would like to tell a little about my friend.
My Friend, let’s call him Mr. X is one of the brightest young chap from Southern India, went to an IIT, studied at Top Ivy League on an scholarship & calls himself son of a farmer. His dad owned small patch of land on which they grew small stuff. He was eldest of 5 siblings & studied primarily at a local municipal school where he excelled at Algebra & Mathematics. His father sold the only vehicle they had to support his studies at nearby town during which he stayed with an uncle. He is not the best looking chap, speaks in very short sentences & sometimes just nod when he doesn’t understand what I’m saying.
How we met is an story for some other day, for now let’s imagine Me & Him going to meet the POI {Person of Interest}. To be honest I didn’t noticed this first but he was sweating since morning he arrived, I picked him from the railway station {Yes, We all traveled by train on overnight journeys to save room overnight stay cost in those days}, lodged him at an Inn near airport totally opposite in direction because it’s cheap {I know the Owner}. So I asked him if he was hungry & he nodded, We ate at the Govt Cafeteria on Ground Floor of the POI’s building. Waiting.
POI Calls. Phew. 🙂
He wanted to meet us outside the office, someplace more casual. I knew what that meant since most Delhiwallah mean Booze = Casual, I offered to meet at Blue’s in CP. “A more private place perhaps” He said. I asked if the hotel room would suit him since we are paying for the room anyway. He seemed relaxed when we arrived at the Room, I had picked a few bottles of Beer & a slightly expensive bottle of Rum whose name I cant even pronounce properly.
I don’t Drink, in case you know me. 🙂
“How much do you know about this project”, was the first thing he asked me since I was the one who was doing most of the talking. “I know it will make money” I said shyly, frankly I didn’t even knew what the project was. “It’s going to help a lot of farmers, the data is most important.” he said emphasizing on “Data” explaining that how they needed more experienced people or Tier 2 companies to handle such complex “Data”. I had no clue so I just nodded, my friend however spoke for the first time explaining how he & his team can break this vast “Data” into small modules or color coded symbols that even with very small training normal person like me & you would understand what trend is going on. He seemed impressed, “Very Nice”, he said, “Pour Me a Drink” he said.
1/2 Bottle Later. :-/
“What is your Strength” He asked, “We are a team of 15 Guys” my friend answered, “that’s too low, companies with research teams of over 100 are bidding for this project, how will this work?” he spoke while spitting all over the place. “We can handle this, 4 Guys are IIT’ians & We can always hire more if required during the trial phase of project.” I said. “No way, it’s very hard to justify how we end up giving such an important project to a new company without any experience.” He questioned. “This is an easy project, we can test run for free” my friend said, “don’t pay us if quality of work is not satisfied.” I added. “No can do, once we release work order we pay 25% of project cost. who will guarantee that money” he said stuffing another leg piece, “We can give a bank guarantee for that” My friend said.
I explained to our POI, how an LC {Letter of Credit} would work better since we are an small company & probably would rather work under loan till we receive payments, our bank can attest to account & happily give us an LC than a BG. He sneered at me for the first time realizing we are not some high school kids, “Who are you?” He demanded to know, “Sir, we are partners” My friend said. “Oh, I see. look kid you don’t know what you are talking. here the work is done on cash.” He was now coming to point.
“Saheb will meet you tomorrow, I like you guys normally we would take a cut of 10% but since you are new guys we will only take 8& from you” He demanded. “OK, when do we get the WO {Work Order}”. I asked. “As soon as you submit money” He said. That’s insane, the project value is 2.5cr+ how do a son of farmer come up with that kind of money to pay to Saheb I thought to myself. “We will arrange the commission in a week, are you sure we will get the work” My friend said suddenly. Sure but he would need to pay something in Advance as Saheb is going to meet some other parties during the week. If someone pays before than you, I can’t do anything, I will try to hold since I like you but Saheb has his own mind. You see he is very Big. our new found friend said in confidence.
My friend looked at me, hopeless & helpless.
“How much Advance” I dared to ask?
“2.5 Lakh only” He said devouring another leg piece.
“How can we be sure we will get the work if we agree to pay the money” I asked.
“I can provide Temp WO to start the project, if Saheb doesn’t get his commission, we will cancel the WO & reject submitted work on Quality parameter, there is no process to appeal in WO. So you have no option.” He said with villainous smile.
“Ok, we will arrange money & meet Saheb tomorrow.” I assured.
“You call me first, I will meet you in Cafeteria downstairs then we go meet Saheb together. Don’t talk or ask questions about money to Saheb. Once you pay I will handover the WO.” He explained.
He said goodbye & took the remaining bottle of Rum for Road. Do we have change for 500, Auto wallah’s don’t take large denominations. I offered to drop him till home. “You don’t trust me”, “You want to see where I live.” he blasted. “No I was only offering help, let me pay the Autowallah for you. Please”. “No No No I will handle this” He said looking uninterested. “No Sir, Please let me help, this is least I can do.” I pleaded. “See you tomorrow, don’t be late”. he reminded
We waived him Good Bye. :-{
The next day I paid that money to help my friend, got his company registered in Delhi through my CA so in case there is a dispute it would be settled in Court of Delhi. Jurisdiction my jurisprudence law professor once told me is just like retail. it’s all about 3 things Location, Location & Location. I become the 2nd director in that company & got reimbursed with 10% of shares to repay my loan.
I didn’t knew that he had called his father that previous night & asked for remaining money & that his father would sell that small patch of land to give him that money. We met Saheb the other day & closed the deal. We made a killing in that deal. I got my 2.5 Lakhs + a handsome interest. I wanted to sell those shares back but my friend insisted I retain them.
Current scene. The company is now a 80+ employee company, serving almost 2 dozen clients none in India. I still have 10% shares. We closed at 80 Lakhs in billing last Quarter. My friend bought a home last month for his parents, he still lives in a Rental. We still think about that Half remaining bottle of Rum sometimes.
Love – DS
Alok Rodinhood Kejriwal
oh man – it takes guts to write this..
Abhishek Bharadwaj
Remember Ratan Tata didnot enter into aviation business, since he was not comfortable to bribe a minister.
https://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2010-11-15/india-business/28270512_1_singapore-airlines-airline-business-chairman-of-tata-group
Deepak Sharma
Plausible deniability is, at root, credible (plausible) ability to deny a fact or allegation, or to deny previous knowledge of a fact.
Deepak Sharma
He is Ratan Tata, a 3rd Generation parsi gentleman businessman who went to school in an BMW. Tell me why don’t you quote Dhirubhai Ambani, you can’t cos he was a true businessman. What took tata’s 150 years to achieve he did it in 30.
Since niether you, nor me can testify to the article it makes no sense. BTW did you noticed the timing of that article. Looks suspicious to me.
Alok Rodinhood Kejriwal
:-)))))))
Its funny you mention this.
Ratan Tata is a Campionite – went to the same school as me.
In the last 50 year reunion – he was being interviewed by Rajdeep Sardesai – another campionite.
Rajdeep asked Ratan Tata – ‘what was your most embarrassing moment in school?’
RT replied – ‘going home in a ROLLS ROYCE. further embarrassing because home was 3 minutes away’
(he then revealed that he and his brother walked while the Rolls trailed them)
Deepak Sharma
🙂 India only had one true visionary rest all are imitators.
Nikhil Agarwal
That is a strong statement. BTW, who would that be?
Amit Gupta
Very overwhelming article. And sure it does take lots of guts to write such article…
If someone looks from top of the world, it generated a great value in the entire world. Your friend employs 80 people and paying good taxes. “People” fighting for corruption should understand it in very details. They should fight for a “niche” area of corruption rather than addressing the corruption in general.
Deepak Sharma
You know me now Ranjan Ji, you are most welcome to get in touch with me now whenever you come to Delhi. I think it’s still there but not sure since Metro the whole Paharganj is getting renovated. Yes the “Data” still haunts me. I started using MiniTab when I was working for Bank of America couple of years ago during my Six Sigma but this “Data” was unique. LOL
Deepak Sharma
Thanks Amit Ji, for your kind words. It doesn’t take a lot of courage to tell truth. We all have some past or other but that should not discourage us from taking a stand. If given an opportunity would I have done things differently, absolutely, but if circumstance doesn’t permit would I do same thing again. Absofuckinglutely. 🙂
Gurpreet Singh Tikku
Deepak, Great post, Enjoyed it thoroughly.
One has to take some shortcuts and get the work DONE when one is at a very nascent stage.
I remember, Sunil Bharti Mittal talking……. He Said “We won the Delhi Airtel Circle, despite of the Biggest players in the fray, not because, we were strong, but because we were fighting for Survival, and they for Profit”
I believe, in initial years, an Entrepreneur should Beg, borrow, Steal, Do anything (Not harming anyone) to get the First Big Break.
Aji (Digital Marketing)
Hee hee, who said corruption is bad, if it was bad, it won’t sell this hot cake. There is demand for corruption and there is supply for corruption. Corruption is bad for people who want to get a fair deal, a fair market.
Corruption is everywhere but controlling it is important for bigger interest. I can’t pass the exam for a doctor, my dad is rich, should I be allowed to pay and get the degree and then become a doctor and treat D…. This has been a problem for many years now.
We can go philosophical about it but end of the day, as a society corruption will be there and corruption should be controlled.
For more gains you took more risk, if some reports it, you may end up in jail (thats the risk you took) …. corruption rules are just to make the risk higher.
Thanks,
Aji Issac
Abhishek Bharadwaj
Dude… Ratan Tata was just an example. Going back historically, JRD Tata several times revealed that, had he followed the same practice what others followed, they would have been much more successful.(plz see the book, Beyond the Last Blue Mountains by R M Lala).
JRD was a (1st + 2nd generation ) entrepreneur whose tenure was accompanied by the gruesome LQP (License, Quota, Permit) system. Yet, he never compromised to ethics (as far as I know). And we all know why there could not be any other TATA, although several business houses came and went away.
Abhishek Bharadwaj
Aji
Why should we treat corruption as one of the inputs of production? Just to save few bucks we easily surrender to such things and the worst part is that every one thinks that if others are doing then why should not I???
And the end result is that our country is entrapped in corruption day by day
BTW there should be a difference between Entrepreneurs and so called Baniyas 🙂
Gurpreet Singh Tikku
Abhishek………….Just Reading your Last Sentence again and Again and am still not able to Comprehend what you say. Please Explain the Difference between an Entrepreneur and “So Called Baniya”
Abhishek Bharadwaj
The difference is of one word Ethics
Gurpreet Singh Tikku
Abhishek, Done Buiness with people of all Faiths and Believe me Baniyas have the best Ethics. They Give you your last rupee and take their last.
They are the Last people to Fool anyone, Never will their Cheques get Bounced, and they are the ones who believe in Collective growth and partner as many people as they can, Unlike OTHERS.
Ethics is a BIG word to Explain and it’s best left “To each his Own”
Abhishek Bharadwaj
I was expecting that. Actually, I never meant to indicate a particular caste. Instead ‘so called Baniyas‘ literally means the category of people in business without any value to ethics, human behavior and responsibility to the society. He may be from any caste.
This is not something which I have invented. At least in my state Bihar, every one understands when we call someone Baniya. Thats why, I said that entrepreneurs should not become a Baniya. And, I maintain my stance on this!
Abhishek Bharadwaj
This is a classic example of the end result of corruption and the diluted ethics, that those crooks (officials) think that they have the right to get bribe from every so and so who is related to them.https://rodinhood.com/madam-are-you-pregnant
@Alok- Plz dont think that I am pointing fingers at you. I just could not find a better example to present my views.
Gurpreet Singh Tikku
Abhishek,
Thanks God , it was Mumbai, where he could sit on your head but not pee. But had it been Bihar, the Babu would not have wasted a minute in tearing your Account Books(A la Rajneeti Prasad) and then say on your face that you don’t have any Maintained books.
I just want to highlight the fact that slowly from the Latter situation, we are moving to the former and very soon we may reach a Non Corrupt state, but for that It may take time, If we think we can eradicate corruption over night, then we are probably giving more air to the fire.
I am very positive of seeing an ideal india soon. We all want it.
But till then, our focus is to run our enterprises and not going to Courts to clear ourselves from false cases, every day.
When we are working and our child comes and wants our attention, we allow him to play on our Ipad/Laptop etc or try to lure in some other way.Indirectly, that is a Corruption too.
Need to end by saying that Bihar, was just an example as you had presented it first and thought of taking it from there.
My Views about Bihar changed since I visited it in 2004 and every year thereon and Believe that it will turn out to be the best State in years to come. The only problem, is that because of paucity of Opportunities earlier, people have shifted to different states and working mainly as Employees or as Govt. officials. THEY NEED TO BECOME ENTREPRENEURS in their own state to take it much Higher.
More Power to Entrepreneurs. To create Value, Beg Borrow Steal, But Don’t Harm anyone!!
Abhishek Bharadwaj
Dear Gurpreet,
Corruption has to be halted. But, who will give a start?? At least we can play our small role and inspire others. We cannot fuel the fire and expect that it will get off on its own. 90 % of us think that corruption cannot be cured and that is where the root of corruption is.
As of myself, I have a very simple trick to challenge the corrupt people around me. Every corrupt person has a fear associated with him no matter how big he is. I just invoke that fear in them and I am all in game. Believe me, I am not preaching, but sharing what I usually do.
Glad to know that you maintain a good views regarding Bihar. My startup http://www.biharprabha.com does the same work of changing the image of Bihar by highlighting the positive side of it.
Thanks
arupkumar
corruption paise se shuru hota hai aur soul tak pahunchata hai. indian history is full of such greedy, corrupt ppl who sold their soul and sold their country for money. Meer jafar aur Jainchand are called “gaddar” (traitors) because they sold india for money. Aaj ke jamane me corrupt custom official mumbai me rdx laane dete hain terrorists ko aur serial bomb attack kaa karan banate hain. ye sabhi desh ke gaddar hain.aur “i love corruption” kahane wale bhi.kyonki aaj aap business= money ke liye corruption ko love kar rahe hain to aap paise ke liye kuch bhi kar sakte hian, desh ko bech bhi skate hain.
arupkumar
plz rd ths before you say i love corruption becoz corruption is punishable offense in india
Corruption in India: Existing Laws and Provisions in India to tackle Corruption
https://www.wisdomblow.com/?p=569
Abey John
Deepak, you did what you had to do.
BUT: Government Babus who subvert what’s best for the country for money? Fuck em. Twice over and then burn em at the stake and grind their ashes and pee all over it. Then have a hearty meal. Crap on it. Mix it up with the good earth of Bharath ma. And use it for manure for our trees.
That’s where they will end up. Eventually.
Deepak Sharma
You mus’t wear white hoods & Go out :-). Vengeance is not an solution dear sir, we need to understand that this is not an statement that I’m or anyone should be proud of. I couldn’t have afforded to lose an opportunity, we didn’t had any mentors to guide us & we were desperate for any business. We never had any Plan B. I would have done things differently, but “Bhookhe Pait Na Hot Bhajan Gopala”.
Deepak Sharma
I’m sure there are plenty of people out their who have scammed tax payers out of 1000’s of crores my Corruption is way too small besides read the article I never said anything about a Govt. Official taking Bribe. Corruption is a term, you can not be jailed for spreading Corruption.
For e.g., if I would have asked my friend to pay a govt official I would’ve spread corruption by inciting a poor guy to pay bribe, I may become corrupted but no way guilty of a crime. A lawyer wrote this article. 🙂
Deepak Sharma
Correction:-
“Jaichand, ruled the north Indian kingdom of Kannauj during the reign of Prithvi Raj Chauhan. According to Prithviraj Raso, he had enmity with the ruler of Delhi and this grew further when his daughter Samyogita married Chauhan against his wish. According to Prithviraj Raso, in the Battle of Tarain, when Muhammad Ghori successfully launched attack on the forces of Delhi, Prithvi Raj requested Jaichand to fight the invader together. To this Jaichand not only bluntly refused, he went to the Ghori camp to fight against Chauhan. It is alleged that Raja Jaichand met Ghori an divulged he secrets of Chauhan’s war plans. Because of this, Jaichand is considered among the greatest traitors who made it easier for the islamic invasion of India.”
Money is not the only root of evil, beside WTF you are talking dude? get a life!
Deepak Sharma
Thanks Gurpreet Ji, I think you understand the point completely. It wasn’t greed or ambition that prompted us, it was sheer necessity for survival. 🙂
Abey John
I have no issues with your paying the bribe. That’s the cost of staying in business/making a decent living/adding value to society in today’s India. And it is not about vengeance. It is about eradication. And no KKK white hoods for me. More like walk in with red eyed fury and launch for the jugular with a savage snarl. 🙂
Deepak Sharma
Wow although I didn’t know how to respond, I still like when people say this out loud, YOU CAN NOT FUCKING FIGHT CORRUPTION UNTIL YOU HAVE FAIR TRADE PRACTICES.
Deepak Sharma
Baniya, dude that was below the belt. You are a Bharadwaj {I will assume you are a Brahman by caste unless you are using this surname just for sake}, for years Brahmins were beggars or bhikshu. How would you like if someone passing you on road gives a chillar to you. You would feel insulted won’t you. Refrain from using any caste based examples boy.
Deepak Sharma
True, Very True. Salut to Killing Spree.
Abhishek Bharadwaj
I think I had earlier clarified what I meant.Please dont give any caste flavour to the discussion. It doesnot matter which caste I belong to. And, I do not need any further certification from you regarding my choice of words.
Thanks
Deepak Sharma
I am admirer of the Tata family in their contribution to the industrialisation of India and in making the really big investments that were needed in steel, transport, power that India needed in the early to mid 20th century. They were also widely seen to be less dependent on government handouts and to possess higher ethical standards as opposed to the other large business houses of the day. Potential employees saw them as being more modern and empowering in their treatment of professional managers many of whom were trained via their home grown Tata Administrative Services graduate intake.
So I was more than a bit surprised- and disappointed- to read about the apparent fact of them having been involved in the Opium wars of the late 19th century, when the British East India Company forced China to allow and expand the import of opium from India. Andrew Leonard whose blog, How The World Works, appears to have uncovered evidence in the form of official records released by the legislative Council of Hong Kong.
Quite amazing. And disturbing. I guess technically the opium trade was ‘legal’ at the time but there is no doubt that it was a form of imperialism that was being conducted against the wishes of the Chinese emperor. If this is true, it certainly dims the halo the Tatas have long worn, at least in my eyes.
The dirty little secret of the Tatas
You might also find the this article & picture also supporting the statement.
Deepak Sharma
Corruption is bad Aji Ji, I don’t promote that. I don’t promote that an IIT’ns father should have to sell land to get his son’s first order for business. That is itself gross in worlds largest democracy. Just for a second imaging your dad’s mixed feeling when he hears something like that. 🙂 I’m sure you would get the Point!
Farshid Master
I have always been a proud to be a PARSI. Suddenly after the comments and such respect & admiration for a Parsi Enterprise (TATA’s) and the men behind it……The pride has gone to another level altogether….Love to be born a Parsi…..PRIDE, HONESTY, LOYALTY, VISION….wooh LOVE IT….
Deepak Sharma
Cool. 🙂
Alok Rodinhood Kejriwal
Farshid – have u read this piece by me? Its one of the MOST READ blogs ever written by me!
https://rodinhood.com/Mr-Marwari-Have-you-met-Mr-Tata
Aji (Digital Marketing)
🙂 Very controversial post, let me get back to work as need to send many reports 🙂 … Different dimensions …
Shruti D Shah
Brilliant read ! I guess one needs money to make more money ! Mere talent is no longer enough !
Saurabh Poddar
Abhishek,
Appreciate your emotions on being ethical……but ethics and morality by it’s existence itself changes by time….for instance only a decade ago it was not ethical to be in a live-in or a homo relationship but now it has legal status to it….
so what happened to the morality and ethics ???
Morality and ethics by far are made by people and society for their convenience…….
No country is made in a day…….somewhere it takes 2-3 decades……somewhere may be more……..there is a maturity process of every country …….like a child……..
Even Maharishi Valmiki was a dacoit………..
Remember in heavy storms straight trees get uprooted while trees with flexible structure survive.
Our country is also coming to the verge of a change where equal opportunities would maximize…..and awarded to the right ppl on the basis of merit and not xyz…..
And also there has to be a condusive environment for the right action…… India needs big reforms in justice delivery system………even if you complain against someone it will take years for him to be proven guilty…so y does one waste his life fighting against immoral ppl …. and not go ahead build businesses…..you can take bribe as a small extortion fees you are giving to generate employment…………
Nobody stops an entrpreneur from donating his money to cancer patients, homeless oldies, orphanges, etc……….. one always have a choice of just being a wealth creator or being a WEALTH DISTRIBUTOR
..given an opportunity to build a billion dollar business with a x percent cut given to immoral ppl for bribe ……..any good soul would want to do that ……because at that level …comes the power to do good….good to society at large….good to thousands of ppl…..the power to transform ppl lives ………which cannot be achieved at a smaller level by resistance.
I don’t advocate corruption and strongly against it …….but it’s always the EFFORT v/s REWARD ( in public interest) story…..
And at THE RODINHOODS some spirit of a robinhood is appreciated……..
😉