“Take a look through the documents for a while. Go downstairs and take care of things.”
“Yes, boss.”
The acquisition wasn’t even complete yet, but they were already treating me like the owner.
I needed to find the company ledgers.
No matter how disastrously the previous owner had run the factory, there had to be records somewhere.
I needed to know how much the raw materials had cost and what the fixed expenses like electricity bills were if I was going to operate the factory.
If a boss couldn’t calculate basic operating costs, bankruptcy was only a matter of time.
“Bingo!”
After digging through piles of paperwork, I finally found the ledger.
It even had a sturdy hardcover binding, so not a single page was torn.
Order: 12,000 yards of Rayon/cotton blended fabric
Procurement of 4,000 pounds of yarn
British 130-denier yarn: 40 cents/pound
Indian 130-denier yarn: 55 cents/pound
“Pounds? So they buy yarn by weight.”
If it took 4,000 pounds to produce 12,000 yards of fabric, then one pound of yarn probably yielded around three yards of fabric.
Since yarn referred to thread, my guess was probably correct.
And it seemed there had been two types.
One called British, and another called India Rayon.
‘130 denier must be the material specification?’
Denier… denier…
I’d heard the term somewhere before.
Probably the thickness of the thread.
‘And “dunki”… don’t tell me they used smuggled yarn too?
What a complete thug.’
“dunki” was slang for smugglers who secretly smuggle products from ports or cross-border.
I was seeing that slang again after decades.
Then again, back in those days smuggled imports were cheaper and even better quality than domestic products, so naturally gangsters preferred them.
But hold on — British yarn costs 40 cents while Indian yarn costs 55?
If imported yarn was this much cheaper, no wonder people risked their lives smuggling it.
“Hey,Guys!”
“Yes!”
“Yes, boss!”
“You called?”
I stuck my head out through the small opening in the wall and called for “them.” I’d meant for any one of Arun, Tarun, or Varun to answer, but all three turned to look at me.
Very convenient.
“So you used 130-denier yarn here?”
“Yes. Fabric for pajamas or shirts needs to be woven with 130-denier yarn. The texture is softer.”
“A few years ago people used another-denier yarn, but it was too rough, and even the yarn itself was more expensive, so nobody uses it anymore.”
Okay.
So denier really did refer to thread thickness.
“Are there any yarn suppliers nearby?”
“They’re all gathered along the new road across from here. If you go out to the main street, you’ll find them easily.”
“So most places around here use British yarn?”
“Yes, of course. Indian yarn is far too expensive.”
The foremen spoke as though imported yarn was simply the natural choice.
“You didn’t use domestic yarn?”
“Well… we’d like to, but the thread keeps snapping and sheds fuzz everywhere. The quality is terrible. It’s even more expensive than imported yarn.”
Judging from the way all the foremen frowned at the mention of domestic yarn, the quality really must have been awful.
“Is that so?”
I’d have to compare the quality myself.
If it really turned out unusable, then I’d have no choice but to use British yarn for now.
I needed to produce fabric immediately — this wasn’t the time to begin with localizing yarn production from scratch.
Still, finding this factory had been pure luck.
If I produced fabric in my own factory, I’d be able to set both the supply prices and the quality specifications when outsourcing production.
It was difficult, but little by little, the problems felt solvable.
“Courtaulds Agency”
After leaving the industrial complex and heading out to the main road, finding the yarn distributor wasn’t difficult.
“So it’s basically ‘If you don’t know Courtaulds, get lost.'”
Usually a store sign included some kind of explanation beneath the name — “specialty shop” this or that.
But this sign simply displayed the word “Courtaulds” in huge letters with nothing else.
Well they are a huge conglomerate even when it broke up in the 1990s its assets and patents are very important.
It single handedly created the foundation for the modern 21st century textile industry.
Ding-ding.
“Hello?”
“Welcome. Where are you from?” This story is hosted at g.com.
The moment I entered, a female employee greeted me.
Apparently small-time peddlers got filtered out at the receptionist level.
Strangely enough, the atmosphere screamed “super” corporate arrogance.
And this was supposedly just a yarn company.
“I’m from Nayara Corporation. I came to purchase Rayon yarn.”
I really needed business cards.
Without one, it was hard to carry myself properly.
I decided I’d get some printed today no matter what.
“What kind of Rayon yarn are you looking for?”
“I’m looking for tricot-use rayon/cotton blended yarn. 130 denier.”
I answered confidently.
Abir had confirmed the fabric was tricot-based, and those guys had said 130-denier fabric was used for shirts and pajamas.
And if I exported my fabric to Egypt, it would obviously be used for shirts, pajamas, and similar clothing.
“Boss!! We have a customer! Boss!”
“Miss Roy, what is it?”
“The customer says he’s looking for 130-denier rayon/cotton blended yarn for tricot use.”
Apparently my order sounded knowledgeable enough to rise above beginner level, because the female employee immediately called for the manager.
“Oh my, welcome…”
“I’m Rohit Karmakar, president of Nayara Corporation. Could I take a look at some rayon/cotton blended yarn? It would be nice to see samples.”
“Yes, please come this way. At Courtaulds, we carry products ranging from five percent cotton blends all the way up to sixty-five percent.”
Behind the counter stood a long table lined with yarn samples, along with small swatches of fabric for customers to feel the texture.
This setup was surprisingly professional.
Courtaulds really live up to its name.
“I’d like to purchase these models as samples.”
A few of the textures felt similar to the kind of yarn I wanted.
If I brought back samples and wove test fabrics, I could probably determine the optimal blending ratio.
In the 21st century, I could have simply sent one of Omer’s sample fabrics to a testing laboratory and asked them to analyze the exact cotton-to-Rayon ratio.
But this era didn’t even have basic analytical equipment like electron microscopes, let alone advanced testing institutes.
Every problem had to be solved through trial and error.
“If it’s samples you need, we’d be happy to provide them. But… how much volume would you require for mass production?”
“In terms of finished fabric, around five hundred thousand yards. So in yarn, probably around two hundred thousand pounds.”
“W-What?! Two hundred thousand pounds?”
“What’s the unit price? I’d need it to be under 40 cents per pound.”
The moment I mentioned 40 cents per pound, the branch manager’s expression changed.
He realized I already knew the final market price.
“Ahem. Miss Roy, bring us some coffee. I have something important to discuss with our customer.”
“Yes, sir.”
He sent the female employee behind the partition and quickly ushered me into his private office.
There was a small table and a soft sofa, so it was suitable for having a conversation.
“Mr.Rohit, how many barter rights do you have?”
“You mean barter rights?”
What is this?
Barter rights out of the blue?
Isn’t “barter” a word that means bartering?
Even if it is the 1950s, it isn’t the 18th-century Age of Discovery; why would you conduct transactions by barter?
“Huh? You don’t have barter rights? Surely you aren’t suggesting we hire ‘coolie’ for all 130,000 pounds of cargo?”
What do you mean?
What is a barter right?
This isn’t some secondhand market, so why do we need barter vouchers!
Why are you talking about smuggling?
Just make an official delivery.
Well, we don’t intend to go as far as hiring porters.
We plan to receive the remaining volume from domestic firms, excluding the supply to Courtaulds from the 130,000 pound total.
“… You’re saying you’ll get the rest supplied by domestic firms? Are you willing to accept that kind of loss?”
“Well, what can you do?”
“Phew, it looks like you’ve already used up all your barter rights. Then again, with that damn import-export linkage system being applied everywhere, there’s no barter left.”
Import-Export Linkage System!
So that bastard really did formalize approx everything.pooooh..
The mention of the import-export linkage system suddenly snapped me back to reality.
My uncles said that our country suffered from a chronic shortage of foreign exchange, so even traders could not properly use dollars, upto liberalisation.
Well, the RBI always maintains the Rupee stability because of constant pressure of managing the Balance sheet.
That’s not important, the important thing is this Export-import linkage system that forces east asian countries to become creative on their side.
For example, cement materials like limestone were abundant, but they could not achieve cement self-sufficiency because they could not import the cement needed to build cement factories.
So, as a desperate measure, the solution the government came up with was to allow the import of raw materials equivalent to the amount exported. You are reading on g.com, the official source.
For example, if you export fabric, you can import an equivalent amount of yarn.
The problem was that arguing I would export this much fabric and asking to be allowed to import this much yarn didn’t work.
First of all, I needed to have a track record of exports.
“Wow, now I understand. Because of the import-export linkage system, small-scale fiber manufacturers who couldn’t export had no choice but to use expensive, low-quality domestic yarn, biting the bullet. If they didn’t like that, they smuggled the yarn!”
I understand why smuggling is rampant in this industry and era and domestic companies are taking advantage of domestic fabric manufacturers.
No wonder the unit price was higher than imported goods; they were selling it that way because it was profitable.
The previous boss was also using smuggled goods, seeing how the market is such a mess.
“Having a porter is a bit of a stretch. Is there no other way?”
I really didn’t intend to buy this British yarn, you know.
I stopped by intending to get a quote and negotiate the price of domestic yarn after seeing the quality difference, but the situation took a strange turn.
Without a bartering right, formal import is difficult.
So, official import is difficult…
It looks like there is no way.
“That doesn’t mean there is absolutely no way. You mentioned exporting 500,000 yards, didn’t you?”
That’s right.
In that case, since you will acquire the barter rights after the export, would you be able to draw up a contract stating that you will transfer those barter rights to me?
“… If you do that?”
“Then I will contact Courtaulds headquarters and borrow some dollars. We just need to import 50,000 pounds for now, and you can hand it over as soon as you secure the barter rights, Mr. Rohit,right?”
Hmm, so the barter card itself is practically the same as a dollar.
In this era.
No, since it is a right guaranteed by the Indian government, it is actually no different from an import/export letter of credit.
“If you get the barter rights, you can sell it to a trader for a premium.”
“That’s a good idea. Thanks for the advice, and I’ll go look around a few other places as well.”
“Oh, really? There probably isn’t a place that would lend dollars for a rate of 40 cents.”
“I should probably look back just in case, shouldn’t I?”
“If you are seriously considering visiting domestic firms, please give up. The technology of the domestic one is still pathetic; they cannot even properly produce 100% Rayon yarn, let alone blended yarn. If the Rayon thread breaks even once, the entire fabric must be thrown away. British thread is the best.”
“Tsk. I see.”
Damn bastard…
Even if he is a businessman, that is too harsh.
It’s not even domestic technology, because of this pushover type mentality that we are suffering from lack of domestic R&D spending?
Even though it is the 1950s, it has been months since we escaped British colonial rule, so how can you belittle yourself like this so casually?
“Please come back. I will be waiting.”
The Branch Manager of Courtaulds saw me off with a smile, perhaps because he was confident.
I didn’t like what was said at all, but I could roughly understand how trade operated in this era.
And reality what is the shackles of us.
It was understandable that domestic companies were ignorant of overseas markets even until the early 1970s.
At the time, entrepreneurs believed that exporting was a surefire way to lose money, but the true meaning was that it was far wiser to make a quick buck in the domestic market through smuggling than to export.
I thought that the government must have been deeply troubled by the situation where it had to encourage exports, with a shortage of dollars for trade, rampant smuggling, and domestic frontrunners monopolizing the domestic market.
As expected, developing countries are bound to fall into a vicious cycle if they button up even one button incorrectly.
My predecessors are truly amazing for getting through this situation.
So, in the end, it means there was definitely an innovative company that made it through this situation…
but where is it?
There will definitely be a main character.
Didn’t you say that they currently monopolize the domestic yarn market and that the quality is bad?
There was no way that a successful company would not have innovated.
After all, innovative companies always rise above desperate situations.
It was a pity that if I had worked in the textile industry, I would have known by now which company had become the protagonist of innovation.
In the original history, since India’s textile exports increased tremendously starting from the late 1950s, it would have been normal for a company to stand out around that time.
“Pioneer…”
“uh?”
As I walked and thought, I found myself off the main road before I knew it.
Then, a shabby building appeared in front of me.
It looked like a factory converted from a tiled-roof house, but the signboard with the words ‘Pioneer Rayon’ wouldn’t leave my eyes.
Didn’t they call Rayon “synthetic” in the 50s?
The fact that they used the 21st-century standard word “Rayon” was one thing, but the name “Pioneer” also felt somehow familiar.
Pioneer…Pioneer..
Could it be that Pioneer?
Isn’t the Pioneer a stationary company?
Well, in the 21st century, they are a paper company.
I hear they briefly expanded in the Man made fibre industry in the 1950-70s but the political situation got worse, they changed their portfolio, restructured and mainly focused on paper,note books etc.
After all, the paper and Man made fibres industries are closely related technically.
Rattling sound.
Is anyone there?
I opened the shabby sliding door with frosted glass and peeked my head into the factory.