The-Polyester-Prince

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Acknowledgements Introduction: an invitation to Bombay 1. A Persuasive Young Bania 2. Lessons from the souk 3. Catching Live Serpents 4. A first-class fountain 5. Guru of the equity cult 6. Friends in the right places 7. The Great Polyester War 8. The Paper Tiger 9. Under siege 10. Sleuths 11. Letting loose a scorpion 12. Business as usual 13. Murder medley 14. A political deluge 15. Under the reforms 16. Housekeeping secrets 17. Pandava or Kaurava
INTRODUCTION AN INVITATION TO BOMBAY The envelope was hand-delivered to our house in Golf Links, Tan enclave in New Delhi whose name captured the clubbable lifestyle of its leisured and propertied Indian residents, soon after we had arrived in the middle of a north Indian winter to begin a long assignment. It contained a large card, with a picture embossed in red and gold of the elephant-headed deity Ganesh, improbably carried on the back of a much smaller mouse. Dhirubhai and Kokilaben Ambani invited us to the wedding of their son Anil to Tina Munim in Bombay. In January 1991, just prior to the explosion in car ownership that in later winters kept the midday warmth trapped in a throat-tearing haze overnight, it was bitterly cold most of the time in Delhi. Our furniture had still not arrived-a day of negotiations about the duty payable lay ahead at the Delhi customs office where the container was broken open and inspected-and we camped on office chairs and foldup beds, wrapped in blankets. The Indian story was also in a state of suspension, waiting for something to happen. The Gulf War, which we watched at a big hotel on this new thing called satellite television, was under- cutting many of the assumptions on which the Congress Party’s family dynasty, the Nehrus’ and Gandhis’, had built up the Indian state. The Americans were unleashing a new generation of weapons on a Third World regime to which New Delhi had been close; its Soviet friends were standing by, even agreeing with the Americans. The Iraqi invasion of Kuwait had pushed up oil prices and forced the Indian Government to evacuate some three million of its citizens working in the Gulf. The extra half-billion dollars all this cost India was pushing the country close to default on its foreign debt. Officials from the Ministry of Finance were already negotiating a bail-out from the IMF in Washington; the IMF was setting stiff conditionalites in effect a complete shift from Nehru’s model of high external protection for the economy and government allocation of savings. Even the CNN clips of Tomahawk cruise missiles zipping neatly down the streets of Baghdad were in themselves part of another breach in India’s walls. The cities who ran the national TV monopoly or the big newspapers no longer had India’s half illiterate population to themselves. Little of this was admitted in New Delhi. The coalition government of V P Singh, which had swept out the glamorous Rajiv Gandhi on a battery of corruption scandals, had itself collapsed in November after less than a year in office. India was ruled by an even smaller coalition of opportunists under a wily politico called Chandrasekhar, kept in office at Rajiv’s pleasure for who knew how long. Everyone clung to the autarkic, Third World verities. Politicians and journalists pounced on the slightest admission by their fellows that perhaps India’s vision of the world had been flawed and it had better adjust to the new order. At the Ministry of External Affairs, in the red sandstone majesty of Sir Herbert Baker’s Secretariat buildings, a bright young official on a new economic desk assured me that India’s finances were strong enough to take the strains. At a party of intellectual’s young academics and filmmakers in rough cotton kurta-payjama suits scoffed at the prospects for satellite TV. How would the advertising payments get out to the broadcaster through the maze of foreign
Page 4 and 5: exchange controls? Which foreign co
Page 6 and 7: Dhirubhai Ambani had made it throug
Page 8 and 9: company shares out and make you col
Page 10 and 11: and injunction against publication
Page 12 and 13: and tigers. Massive double doors, t
Page 14 and 15: eligious school known as Shaivism (
Page 16 and 17: Jayan Shah remembers Dhirubhai, who
Page 18 and 19: his advice to ‘Keep out under all
Page 20 and 21: LESSONS FROM THE SOUK Early in the
Page 22 and 23: Disembarking tourists, brought asho
Page 24 and 25: gambles against rises and falls in
Page 26 and 27: CATCHING LIVE SERPENTS At the end o
Page 28 and 29: Viscosa via a long resident Italian
Page 30 and 31: great caution, leading to constant
Page 32 and 33: knew nothing about them, but was se
Page 34 and 35: interest in various ways, Dhirubhai
Page 36 and 37: The Pai’s prided themselves on be
Page 38 and 39: Pakistan in 1965, India’s externa
Page 40 and 41: Minister Pai overruled objections f
Page 42 and 43: Suresh Kothary, the Du Pont agent i
Page 44 and 45: intermediate either purified tereph
Page 46 and 47: In October 1977, Reliance had gone
Page 48 and 49: slow-down in trading and sometimes
Page 50 and 51: Along with the clearances for his c
Page 52 and 53:
iodegradable detergents) and high-d
Page 54 and 55:
Bar [at the Taj Mahal Hotel], have
Page 56 and 57:
nephew, Rasikbhai Meswani, who knew
Page 58 and 59:
auction, the highest prices being f
Page 60 and 61:
the news magazines that were the li
Page 62 and 63:
for two years and then as a railway
Page 64 and 65:
The Great Polyester War On 23 Novem
Page 66 and 67:
advice. Among them were tycoons man
Page 68 and 69:
licence for the DMT plant-two and a
Page 70 and 71:
that was eventually to bring down t
Page 72 and 73:
Authorities told Reliance that the
Page 74 and 75:
confiscated, and pay an additional
Page 76 and 77:
THE PAPER TIGER It was at this stag
Page 78 and 79:
‘So now we are friends?’, he as
Page 80 and 81:
entrepreneur struggling against a b
Page 82 and 83:
nonconvertible debenture issues tha
Page 84 and 85:
ends.’ It began with the Rs 843 m
Page 86 and 87:
The New York investors, Praful and
Page 88 and 89:
UNDER SIEGE So far, it had been jus
Page 90 and 91:
Reliance group of companies to the
Page 92 and 93:
In its original yarn operation set
Page 94 and 95:
system. It comes from a dynamic per
Page 96 and 97:
depreciation, investment allowances
Page 98 and 99:
SLEUTHS To see Bhure Lal on his eve
Page 100 and 101:
event, Rajiv did not attend the mee
Page 102 and 103:
Bhure Lal had found most of the peo
Page 104 and 105:
issue to market. Income tax authori
Page 106 and 107:
The Express also pointed to some no
Page 108 and 109:
the Ambani magic. Huge amounts had
Page 110 and 111:
The Times of India’s editor, Giri
Page 112 and 113:
office has never been revealed. Bot
Page 114 and 115:
Brought to New Delhi, Gurumurthy wa
Page 116 and 117:
emembered that he had invested heav
Page 118 and 119:
CBI on evidence that was presented
Page 120 and 121:
V P Singh declared the report ‘is
Page 122 and 123:
The Finance Ministry also gave prom
Page 124 and 125:
not appear to have yet obtained the
Page 126 and 127:
Until then, oil refining had been r
Page 128 and 129:
producing unit which used naphtha a
Page 130 and 131:
MURDER MEDLEY Since March 1987, the
Page 132 and 133:
Figures such as the actor Sayeed Ja
Page 134 and 135:
along with ammunition. Babaria also
Page 136 and 137:
The bench of three judges decided o
Page 138 and 139:
executives had spread the idea that
Page 140 and 141:
A POLITICAL DELUGE In the second qu
Page 142 and 143:
assessed as owing Rs 312.8 million
Page 144 and 145:
To help win support for reforms fro
Page 146 and 147:
Although it was obliged to report m
Page 148 and 149:
debenture issues because it saw a w
Page 150 and 151:
UNDER THE REFORMS After the shock o
Page 152 and 153:
Mukesh had resigned as executive di
Page 154 and 155:
up, pointing to India’s large mid
Page 156 and 157:
illion. Reliance shares had risen h
Page 158 and 159:
the refinery’s cost of Rs 51.42 b
Page 160 and 161:
No one was arguing with the logic o
Page 162 and 163:
well as being a talented engineer a
Page 164 and 165:
epeated claim that, whatever else h
Page 166 and 167:
degree a bare pass from a low-statu
Page 168 and 169:
pointed out that there were still g
Page 170 and 171:
On 30 October, a letter arrived fro
Page 172 and 173:
The switched shares had now been re
Page 174 and 175:
The tax officers persevered, and fo
Page 176 and 177:
petroleum minister at the time the
Page 178 and 179:
PANDAVA OR KAURAVA Reliance emerged
Page 180 and 181:
took on a self-pitying ‘Why is ev
Page 182:
erupting polyester industry battle
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The-Polyester-Prince

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