Story of a Big Player from Gangnam

Chapter 479: Business Tour in India (1) – Part 2

That day, the business tour group visited a governmental office. It was either India’s Chamber of Commerce & Industry or the Small and Medium Business Administration. The workers there looked definitely cleaner and more elegant than the people on the street. The women there looked gorgeous and sophisticated. Inside the building was cool as well with the air conditioner while it was really hot outside.

“This meeting room is huge.”

“It seems that it could accommodate not only 25 but more than 30 people.”

A female staff member brought some cookies and tea. She had very long eyelashes, and she had a very exotic and impressive look. When the head of the office came into the meeting room, all of the Indian workers quickly stood up. While watching the workers’ attitude and manner toward their boss, Gun-Ho realized that the work environment in India must be authoritarian.

‘Having a good connection with a high-ranking official here must be very useful in doing business in this country.’

The head of the office with a tummy bulge started speaking. He certainly looked arrogant.

“Haryana, which is close to Delhi, is constantly growing, and we welcome foreign investment here.”

After giving a brief speech recommending an investment in Haryana, the head of the office left the meeting room abruptly. Because Gun-Ho missed the opportunity to give the gift to him due to his sudden leave, he left the gift with someone who looked like the second rank in the office.

The street was filled with people; it looked certainly overcrowded. People were selling a huge pancake on the street, which was the size of a tray. There were also many three-wheeled rickshaws seen, which seemed to be used as a taxi there. Gun-Ho heard constant honking of the vehicles that slithered their ways through the crowd.

“They just don’t quit honking.”

“That pancake looks delicious.”

Cows without a bridle were everywhere. They were just walking around on the street.

After lunch, they visited one more place. It was a small company with 200 employees. The business owner looked apparently tired.

“I opened this business just because the labor cost is cheap here.”

“How much cheaper is it?”

“In China, we need to pay at least 600,000 won per person considering the recent increase in the exchange rate. But here, we pay less than 200,000 won.”

“Hmm, that gives a big advantage to have a business here.”

“Moreover, the population below 25 years old takes up 47%. So, there are plenty of quality laborers.”

“What about the rent? How much do you pay for this factory?”

“India is a huge continent, but there are so many people too. So, the price of land is expensive, and it keeps increasing.”

Gun-Ho could see the feeling of solitude from the business owner’s face.

Gun-Ho handed the prepared gift to him and cheered him up.

“You are doing an incredible job here, far from your country. I truly mean it.”

“I just couldn’t see a better opportunity in Korea. I’ve been in India for five years now. I sometimes felt that I was beating my head against the wall. I just kept trying and worked hard.”

Gun-Ho recorded the data such as the factory rent, average labor cost, utility fees, etc. before walking out of the company.

‘If someone has to come here to work from Korea, he should come with his family. Being here by one’s self must be extremely hard.’

The country of India seemed to have a lot of opportunities since there were so many people, and the country hadn’t fully developed yet. The market that Gun-Ho would enter must be large.

On the third day, the group was guided to the famous tourist spot—Taj Mahal. It was located in Agra City. They headed to the southern part of Agra City by the tour bus. The road became narrower at some point, and it became a two-lane road.

“There is no white or yellow line on this road.”

“Whoa, it’s a camel. There is a camel.”

On the way, the group could spot camels loaded with cargo. A two-humped camel was so tall that it looked even more elegant compared to the wagon pulled by horses or cows. A group of camels proudly passed by the bus with large cargos on them.

“What is that? Is it a cat? Or is it a monkey?”

On the concrete fences of houses along the roadside, a few animals were jumping around. At first, they looked like cats, but they were actually monkeys.

“We haven’t arrived at our destination yet. I guess the Taj Mahal is far.”

“That’s because we can’t speed up.”

After three hours of driving, they finally arrived at the Taj Mahal. The mausoleum was being guarded by soldiers with guns. The construction of the mausoleum was built by the Mughal emperor in missing his queen.

On the way back from the Taj Mahal, Gun-Ho thought of various things on the bus.

‘Many Korean companies are already in India. There are Hyundai, Samsung, and their vendor companies. If GH Mobile or Dyeon Korea enters the market here, I at least won’t lose money. Egnopak’s president wants GH Mobile to expand its business here with them since it’s more useful for his business, rather than Dyeon Korea. However, President Song doesn’t think it’s a good idea for GH Mobile to expand its business at this point where we want to stabilize the company financially in order to successfully register with KOSDAQ. He strongly argued that we have to expand the business after we go public.

It is true that entering a new market will exhaust our funds in reserve. President Song’s opinion is very understandable because it’s very important to reduce our debt-ratio in order to go public successfully. However, Dyeon Korea has a different situation. It has no debt, and it has enough cash in reserve. If we want, we are more than ready to invest in a new market. Additionally, for Dyeon Korea, we need a sales company here, not a manufacturing factory, just like Dingding’s sales company in China. We will just need storage and an office space. It won’t require a substantial amount of investment funds. The only problem is transportation fees since we will have to ship the products from Korea to India. We won’t manufacture products here.’

Gun-Ho decided to skip the tour in Tamil Nadu; its capital was Chennai.

‘Factories there should be the same as the ones here. I don’t think I will see anything different or new.’

When Gun-Ho came back to Korea from his trip to India, he talked with President Song.

“It seems to be a good opportunity for us to enter the Indian market; however, it will cost us a lot. We will need to pay the security deposit for a factory in a lump sum, not to mention the cost of equipment. We will need at least 300 million won to start.”

“I agree with you. Egnopak has its own factory in Haryana already. They have experience in running a business there, but we are different. We will have to start from scratch with no experience in the Indian market and business environment specifically.”

“That’s true. It’s easy for them to open another factory in Chennai since they already have one in Haryana.”

“Are you going to tell Egnopak’s president that this is not a good time for GH Mobile to enter the market?”

“I think we shouldn’t give up the Indian market. It is definitely a rising hot market. I think that until we are ready, we can gain our expertise there.”

“I’m with you, sir.”

“Let’s send Dyeon Korea there first. We can send Dyeon Korea’s Interpreter Lee.”

“Interpreter Lee has extensive work experience in a company. I’m sure he will adjust well there. But, we want to give him a position at least as a manager. We are putting him back to the field where he used to work prior to his retirement, and usually, people want at least his last level of position before retirement.”