Pratap Bhogilal Journey Through Life

Author(s): Rauf Ahmed
Publisher: Bhupendra Singh Anand

Page 67

THE JOURNEY
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winding machines by 1948. SRM was also the first to have an automatic washing plant and the first to convert the spinning section into a high-speed one. We declared 25 percent bonus every year for many years.
Around 1976-77 the situation of textile mills in Mumbai began to deteriorate after government regulations widened the excise differential between the mill cloth and the cloth from the power-loom sector. The situation was further aggravated in 1978 by the prolonged strike called by labour leader Datta Samant. I could sense that it would become increasingly difficult for composite mills like ours to survive in times to come. At that point I suggested to Bapaji that we sell off our mills and get out of the textile business. Bapaji said'yes'at first and I began negotiating with prospective buyers, and even came to a settlement subject to the approval of the Board, which primarily meant Bapaji. But he changed his mind and said an emphatic 'no! We were going through very hard times and I was worried that there could be serious default of statutory dues. At that juncture, Mr Joshi of Sholapur Mills approached me to say that S.Kumar's were interested in buying off our mills. After a lot of persuasion, Bapaji agreed, and we arrived at a decision to sell off 55 percent of our share holdings to S.Kumar's, but we were yet to sign an agreement.
Around the same time, Bapaji had approached the Chairman of ICICI Bank, H.T.Parekh, to look for a buyer. He talked to Dhirubhai Ambani of Reliance. I was told about it later. Dhirubhai came to see me in my office at Batliboi. I placed our terms before him. He agreed to them and he sent his Finance Controller to look into all the papers. The process is called 'due diligence. After that I was surprised to get a letter from Dhirubhai offering fresh terms which were substantially different from what we had agreed upon during our meeting. I politely declined it. Dhirubhai had gone back on the terms he had agreed to initially, in spite of his Finance Controller, who had scrutinised our accounts and assets register minutely, finding everything in order. I called Abhay Kumar Kasliwal of S. Kumar's and fixed a time for signing the agreement we had arrived at before the Dhirubhai episode.
It is through woman that order is maintained. Then why call her inferior from whom all great ones are born - Guru Nanak