Chapter 392 A Different Kind of Bribery
The visitor was New Delhi's Finance Minister, Balram, a Tamil.
He is in charge of all financial matters, which naturally includes various state-owned banks.
After a few pleasantries, Ron led him into the store.
"Manish, how about we end today's guest reception here?" Ron turned his head.
"Of course." He happily took out a sign and hung it outside the glass door.
The store became quiet, the waiter and the receptionist left automatically, and Manish himself took on the role of a servant serving tea and water.
"Have you been here, Mr. Balam?"
"No," he said, looking around, attracted by the various cigarettes and cigars. "I didn't expect there was such a fine little shop in New Delhi."
"My business has only been running for two years. It's normal that you haven't heard of it, sir." Manish hurriedly introduced.
“But the variety is quite rich and the storage is very professional,” Balam commented.
"Yes, it's my honor to be favored by both gentlemen." Manish smiled and nodded.
"What's in there aren't ordinary cigars. Each one has a story." Ron looked towards the window.
"What do you mean?" Balam became interested. He liked this kind of thing.
"That box of limited edition Cohiba is from the collection of Connaught Place owner Varma."
"It's that guy." Balam nodded.
Varma, now a retail tycoon in Delhi, had resorted to a lot of violence to acquire the land in Connaught Place.
That's why Manish is nervous, there are some people he really can't afford to mess with.
"Manish, tell me the story behind these cigars." Ron winked at him.
"Uh, yes."
Manish bravely recounted how the billionaire tycoon Varma bargained hard with him for a cigar and finally only gave him a 10% discount.
This unknown and contrasting story made Balam laugh out loud.
Then, under his astonished gaze, Ron walked over on his own and took out the treasures that Valma had deposited here.
"Come, Mr. Barum, how about trying someone else's favorite?"
"This" even the Minister of Finance was stunned by him.
But then Barum became excited. Tasting someone else's favorite thing is not uncommon Minotaur behavior.
Not only that, at some point, Ron asked Anil to take out the high-end whiskey that had been prepared long ago.
So several people quickly picked up their wine glasses and started smoking.
Manish has already gotten into the role. He begins to introduce the treasures in the window one by one and the stories of the people behind them.
Balam was very excited to hear those interesting private stories.
When you feel like smoking, take out the cigar from the corresponding window and savor it carefully.
You know what, he really enjoyed the process.
It’s not that the cigars in Manish’s shop are particularly expensive. Balam has smoked most of them before, so there’s nothing special about them.
It was the stories that accompanied these cigars that really intrigued me. They were the protagonist's collection, yet now I was holding them in my hands.
Tsk, it’s hard not to be fascinated by that kind of euphoric feeling.
After smoking several cigars and drinking a few glasses of whiskey, Balam waved his hand and stopped.
Manish was very tactful and retreated to the back hall. What happened next was not something he could participate in.
"Tell me, Soul, what's it about?"
"Oh, how come nothing can be hidden from your eyes." Ron flattered hypocritically.
"Old man Vilma always praises you for your business acumen and shrewdness. Today I finally saw it."
"Just showing off my skills," Ron poured him a glass of wine. "It's about foreign exchange."
"Foreign exchange?"
"Yes, as you know, Soul Electric has an export business."
"Sul, you know, this is an extraordinary period. The country's foreign exchange reserves are only a few tens of billions of dollars, which cannot be used lightly."
"I know. I'm not trying to steal that foreign currency. I want to exchange it myself."
"Letter of guarantee?"
"No, the amount on the guarantee is too low to be of much use to my business."
"Then tell me what you want to do?" Balam was a little curious.
"I have no shortage of rupees. I have cash and don't need the government to guarantee a loan. I just want to get the money out and exchange it for dollars."
"International currency market?" Barum understood instantly. He was the Minister of Finance and knew all about this.
"Yes, I need a steady flow of US dollars, more than a billion."
"Ten billion?!" Balam was so shocked that he almost dropped the wine glass.
"It's not a one-time exchange, it's a long-term goal," Ron explained.
"What do you need so many dollars for? Your Sur Electric Appliances should be exported to earn foreign exchange."
"For the telecommunications business, as you know, I got a license. But if you want your phone to connect to calls anytime, anywhere, you need a large number of signal base stations. We can only import them, there is no other way."
"A signal base station costs more than one billion dollars?" Baram still found it unbelievable.
"That thing costs $500,000 each, and Delhi alone needs more than a thousand. I can't afford that much, so I can only build it area by area. This is a long-term project."
Ron's reason was sound and factual. He had ordered the signal base station from Huazi, and the payment was in clear green dollars.
The balance in his slush fund was sufficient, but the rupee had been depreciating, so of course he had to spend the money urgently.
"The amount of money you want to transfer is so large that it's difficult to do."
"I'm not doing this for myself, I'm doing this for India's communications projects. It's okay if I can't exchange dollars, but will New Delhi allocate funds to support me?"
Balam shook his head. He was the finance minister and there would be no budget for this in the next few years.
"The most important thing is that no one suffers losses in this matter. I used my own money and did not borrow from any bank. The government will not lose a single rupee, and you and I have done nothing wrong. I am not transferring assets, I am using the money to purchase technology and then investing it in domestic construction."
"You are an entrepreneur with noble character, Sur." Balam had to admit this.
"That's right. As long as India's telecommunications industry can develop in the future, the success doesn't have to be mine!" he said righteously.
"But."
"Mr. Balram, the political situation in Tamil Nadu may change in next year's general election. You have heard that Jayalalithaa has regained the support of the voters."
"Hey, you know her?"
"Suer Electric's local branch factory and the port that will soon be put into operation were all invested in under her leadership."
Ron gave him a look that Balam understood immediately.
He is a Tamil and was once a member of the Indian National Congress. However, as the Indian National Congress declined, he left the party last year and formed the Tamil Manila Congress in his constituency.
This is a small independent party, which is now a member of the Tamil coalition government and has a cooperative relationship with the DMK.
But as the DMK continued to make various outrageous moves and its public support rate plummeted, everyone with a discerning eye knew that the DMK’s good days would not last long.
The reason why Balram did not directly join the DMK was simply because he was waiting to be sold at a high price.
Now that Jayalalithaa is making a strong comeback and Ron has a close relationship with her, Balram naturally has to take this relationship into consideration.
Ron also has a good relationship with the BJP, and with the national election next year, Balram's inner thoughts are becoming clearer.
"I will inform the banks below that you can only use the funds on the books and cannot take out loans."
"Yes, I have always been trustworthy." He assured quickly.
"The whiskey today is good. I want to go back and rest." Balam stood up and looked at the cigar shop.
"Don't worry, leave this to me." Ron winked at Anil.
The latter immediately brought out a case of genuine imported whiskey and put it in Balam's car.
Our finance minister nodded in satisfaction and then got into the car in a good mood. A few cigars and a few glasses of whiskey made him feel relaxed.
After a long while, Manish, who was hiding in the back hall, came out quietly.
"Mr. Soul, my store is about to close."
"So early?" Ron glanced at the sky. The sun was still high in the sky.
"Well, I mean Castro Cigarette Shop is going to go bankrupt." Manish looked dejected.
"How come?" Ron was surprised.
"To you, those people are nothing. But to me, none of them can be offended."
Ron made one call after another, and the customers behind the windows must have known that it was Manish who leaked their information.
They didn't dare to blame Ron, but Manish was in trouble.
Recalling the difficulties he faced when he first started his business, Manish became nagging.
His original dream was to be a pilot, so he was admitted to the Flight Academy in Kansas.
He worked a number of part-time jobs in the United States, including working in a nightclub, where he gradually discovered the potential of cigarettes.
He returned to India with his pilot's license, but obviously couldn't find a job because he had no use for his skills.
His mother owned a small shop that happened to sell imported decorative flowers, so Manish took over the business.
In his own words, he was drifting and unhappy at the time.
He was close to his mother but distant from his father, a former air force officer.
Manish wanted to get into the cigarette business, so he approached the only cigarette importer in India.
This man was much older than Manish, and cigarettes were just a sideline for him. His main business was arms trafficking, something he had been doing since the 1960s.
Manish had an unpleasant cooperation with him because he wanted Manish to give him a high profit before agreeing to cooperate.
A few years ago, he opened “India’s first cigarette lounge” at Royal Park in Hiru Plaza and the business was brisk.
His partner started demanding higher profits from him. Manish tried to negotiate with him, but the other party threatened to cut off Manish's supply.
The problem is that cigars are a strictly controlled luxury commodity, and the arms dealer got involved in the cigar business because he was importing weapons, and the two are closely related.
Manishkh's relationship with the arms dealer broke down and he was in dire straits.
He desperately searched for cigarette exporters around the world to supply him, but everyone he contacted refused to do business with him. They didn't like dealing with Indians, let alone a young man with no background.
Due to lack of funds, Manish only selected a few companies to discuss cooperation, one of which was the Emir of Bahrain.
He planned to meet the sheikh in person, so he used the remaining money he had to buy a plane ticket to Bahrain.
After hearing his story, the chief actually agreed to supply him with goods and even offered him a loan at the outset.
That's how he opened the upscale "Castro Cigarette Shop" today, and it took a lot of hard work.
"Don't worry, I've personally contacted them, and your store will be absolutely fine." Ron smiled and patted his shoulder.
"You" Manish hesitated to speak.
Ron got into the car without saying anything, but Anil glanced at him.
"You have no idea what the title 'Mr. Soul' means."
I wonder how many people would rush forward to do Mr. Suhr a small favor.
(End of this chapter)
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