I'm a Master in India

Ron had connected with Ratnam, an import and export merchant from Tamil Nadu. With Harry's introduction, they had a pleasant conversation.

Hearing that Ron was preparing to open a factory, Ratnam flew from Singapore to Mumbai, bringing with him over a dozen motor samples.

The perceptive Ratnam realized that if this deal went through, it would mean a long-term supply contract.

This was a scarce resource for him as an import and export merchant, as he understood the nature of Indian businessmen too well.

Not only were payments always delayed, but they also loved to change their minds. Even after agreeing on a price, Indian businessmen would start finding various reasons to lower the price after he placed the order with the factory.

Many contracts were one-off deals. After completing a deal, the buyers would often disappear. Some went bankrupt, some were arrested, and others changed careers.

This wasn't to say that there was a problem with his goods, but rather that the buyers weren't the end customers; they were smugglers.

These people would import goods from Ratnam through various channels back to India, and then sell them to customers in need in the mainland to earn the price difference.

They were involved in smuggling activities, and it was common for them to be arrested or double-crossed, so there was nothing strange about it.

Precisely because of this, a factory owner like Ron directly placing an order made the contract all the more valuable.

Who wouldn't like long-term, stable orders? And with the endorsement of a customs official like Harry, Ratnam didn't hesitate to take a trip to Mumbai himself.

After consulting Ashish, Ron ordered a total of one thousand electric motors of three different power levels at an average price of 80 rupees.

This price was very cheap, partly because the water air conditioner didn't need a high-power motor like a table fan; it only needed to blow out cool air. On the other hand, Ratnam was deliberately trying to please him in order to secure the order.

Ron only placed an initial order of 80,000 rupees as a trial run, and even if he lost money later, it wouldn't be a big deal.

Of course, if the market feedback for the water air conditioner was good, there would be a steady stream of orders later. That was what Ratnam was interested in, and after mass production, he could further reduce the costs.

The real major investment for the water air conditioner factory wasn't the spare parts and materials, but the two injection molding machines still floating at sea, which cost Ron over 60,000 US dollars.

Affected by the tourism industry, Ron didn't have much foreign exchange reserves. To be honest, those 60,000 US dollars were a bit painful.

Fortunately, the transaction with Ratnam only required paying in rupees, otherwise he would really have to worry about US dollars in the future.

The electric motors shipped from Singapore today had already been delivered to the factory area, and Ron needed to check Ashish's results.

Outside the factory gate, the Sharma Textile Factory sign had been removed and replaced with the Suer Electric Appliances signboard.

The garbage on the open space had also been cleaned up. After Gurish, who was guarding the gate, received the money, he didn't mess around.

What a joke, it was a thousand rupees! People in the slums worked their butts off for only five or six hundred rupees a month. Gurish only took out three hundred and gave them a deadline of three days to complete the task, and a bunch of people were scrambling to do it.

Inside the three-story office building, there was still a constant clanging sound. Ron guessed that Anand was leading people to repair the damaged doors, windows, desks, and other things.

"Boss, the prototype is ready. Do you want to see it now?" Ashish greeted him from afar.

"Move the thing to the office," Ron pointed upstairs, "Let Anand and the others experience the effect first."

"I'll go prepare." Ashish looked enviously at the busy figures upstairs. His neighbor was actually very good at repairing things.

Unfortunately, he didn't seize the opportunity to introduce him here, otherwise his neighbor could have earned some extra money. Any opportunity to make money was precious to the people in the slums.

Ron didn't know about Ashish's little plan. He went upstairs to find Anand with great interest. During this time, that guy had been busy in and out of the factory with people.

Anyway, there was nothing going on at the travel company. He was idle anyway, so he might as well find something to do for himself.

Mumbai in February was already a bit hot. When Ron found Anand, he was sweating profusely, tightening the table legs with nails.

"I'll let you experience a treasure later," Ron boasted triumphantly.

"What?" Anand raised his hand to wipe his sweat.

"Don't move! Keep the sweat, it won't be as effective if you wipe it off."

"Huh?" Anand's hand stopped in mid-air, hesitating.

Just as he was speaking, Ashish had already brought a strange-looking metal box into the room, and another person was carrying a bucket of water.

"Come on, put it here." Ron pointed to the desk in front of Anand.

The surface of this metal box was covered with a layer of stainless steel sheet. Because it wasn't painted, it looked dazzling and eye-catching.

Just like Ron said at the beginning, the air outlet on the front was made into a grid shape, and there was a layer of gauze in the invisible place inside.

Ashish hooked his finger, and a drawer-like thing was pulled open at the bottom of the box, which was the water tank.

Then he opened the top cover of the box and directed his assistant to add water. As the water level in the water tank rose, the gauze at the grid was quickly wetted.

This was done to let Ron and the others see the working principle of the water air conditioner clearly. After the finished product was made, the top cover would be fixed, and users would generally not be able to open it.

After the preparations were completed, Ashish personally plugged in the power and turned on the switch at the top of the metal box. It had three gears, just like an ordinary table fan, and even had a timer function.

A whirring sound came from the grid, and Anand couldn't help shivering, then let out a pleasant groan.

"How is it?" Ron asked with a smile.

"Great! It's as good as that woman we went to find last time!"

Ron's face darkened. Damn it, dead memories were attacking him again. That fat woman, the olive oil in her hair...

The other people in the room laughed lewdly. Ron was too lazy to explain.

He reached out and felt it himself. There was a very obvious coolness, and the temperature of the wind blowing out was lower than that of a table fan.

Ashish and the others also squeezed over to experience it. Everyone was amazed and proud at the cool breeze.

This magical thing was like an air conditioner, but it was made by their own hands.

"The effect is not bad, but the thing is too rough." Ron's vision was very critical, "The fan noise is too loud, and the shape is too ugly."

Whether it was because the fan blades disassembled from other places were not suitable, the internal fan made a creaking noise when the motor turned.

Ron suspected that the metal box formed a resonant cavity inside, and even a small noise would be amplified.

"I'll try other fan blades again." Ashish offered advice from the side.

"It seems that it's best to use a plastic shell." Ron didn't like this layer of stainless steel sheet very much.

"I think it's good," Anand disagreed, "Mumbai is already very noisy, it's at least quieter than the loudspeakers outside."

"No, you won't think so when you sleep at night." Ron considered more.

He circled the water air conditioner prototype a few times, and finally touched the sheet metal on the side of the metal box.

"Make this place into a grid too, which can not only reduce resonance, but also save costs and increase heat dissipation."

"Okay!" Ashish noted them down one by one. Today was the first time the machine was turned on, and there must be many places to improve.

"Later, think about what else can be improved and fix it all at once. Then make a few prototypes and I'll send them to a few friends for them to experience and evaluate."

This kind of thing couldn't be left to Anand and the others. The people in the slums had too low requirements, and they didn't even have electricity, so what was the point of experiencing it?

Ron was aiming at the middle class, they were the target customers of the water air conditioner, and at least they had to have electricity at home.

"By the way, what is the cost of this prototype?" Ron asked.

"Excluding labor, it's about 400 rupees."

"Too expensive, it must be cut in half!" Ron wasn't very satisfied.

With such a high cost, how much would the selling price have to be to make a profit? Conservatively estimated, it would have to be a thousand rupees.

Indians are too poor. A thousand rupees is equivalent to the monthly income of many people.

Although middle-class families have higher incomes, exceeding three thousand rupees, most people would hesitate to spend a third of their income to buy an unseen new type of appliance.

"This is a prototype, purely handmade, and many parts are bought now, so the cost is so high," Ashish weakly explained.

"The injection molding machine will arrive before the end of the month. Redesign the shell, we must reduce the cost to within 200 rupees."

"No problem!" Ashish never says "no" in front of the boss. He is a qualified workhorse.

Satisfied with his guarantee, Ron nodded. In his previous life, he hated the involution king. After becoming a capitalist, he hoped that everyone under him would be an involution king.

Of course, the cost of 200 rupees was not determined by slapping his head. The core component, the motor, was only 80 rupees. How much is a plastic shell worth? Labor is even worthless!

A cost of 200 rupees is entirely possible. As long as the price is low enough, someone will definitely buy it.

Open the market at a low price first, and then slowly enrich the product types and divide them into different price ranges.

Throughout history, low-price strategies have always been effective.

In addition, Ron also has other advantages, such as taxes, which he doesn't have to worry about.

Mumbai is a city of corruption. If the bribes are in place, he will not only not have to pay taxes, but he can even get subsidies.

Reality is so magical. The larger the enterprise, the more subsidies it receives.

Ron was already considering the subsequent marketing, how to sell the product was the key.

Perhaps he could find Kavya and try to place an advertisement in "The Times of India". Or he could ask Bollywood producer Chandra to introduce an advertising director and then shoot two television commercials.

In short, there are only a few means of publicity. Coincidentally, he can get in touch with them all.

Finally, there is the issue of funding. Of the 11 million savings, more than 7 million was spent on buying land, leaving about 3.5 million rupees.

Later, thanks to the golden tourist season in November last year, he recovered 1.2 million rupees.

But it was only for that month. After the riots, the income from tourism was appalling. As of now, the accumulated profit is only 500,000.

Including other miscellaneous income, the black market for foreign exchange, Bollywood extras, gem merchant intermediaries, the total balance in his account is 4.5 million.

However, recently, he spent another 2 million on setting up the factory. The remaining 2.5 million will also be used for advertising and developing sales channels.

Ron found that he was short of money again.