I'm a Master in India

Chapter 255: Nuclear-Level Pricing

"Mr. Sur, you haven't kept your promise!"

"Mr. Tian, please forgive us if our hospitality hasn't been up to par during this time. Don't worry, we will definitely improve the food!" Ron feigned ignorance.

When food was mentioned, Mr. Tian became even more furious. He was alright, having just flown to Mumbai.

But his Japanese colleagues responsible for technical assistance were miserable; in just two months, they had visibly become thinner.

He hadn't done anything in Mumbai yesterday except listen to his colleagues complain about the harsh conditions in India.

The biggest pain point was diarrhea; there were still two colleagues in the hotel, weakly moaning in bed.

Mr. Tian even suspected that Sur Electrical Appliances was deliberately cutting corners on meal benefits, otherwise the probability of getting diarrhea was too high.

"We can discuss the food later. According to the agreement, after the NEC production line is delivered, your side should settle the final payment. It's already been a month, why has this been delayed repeatedly?"

"The NEC production line wasn't delivered within the agreed time either, was it?" Ron spread his hands, indicating helplessness.

"That was a special circumstance, the shipping conditions at sea didn't allow it." Mr. Tian slightly lowered his voice.

"See, there are always unexpected things."

"I apologize for the previous delay, and we will compensate for it in future cooperation. Now that a month has passed, isn't it..."

"Mr. Tian, according to international practice, delivery includes all services, including installation and debugging. The user shouldn't have to worry about anything extra, and it should be ready to use at any time. Can the color TV production line be put into operation now?"

"This... NEC's employees are working hard." Mr. Tian explained.

"So it's not ready, is it? The project progress is entirely controlled by you, and we can't do anything about it." Ron's voice grew louder.

"In two weeks at the earliest, the production line will definitely be adjusted to its optimal state."

"Alright, I'll wait for your good news."

Ron nodded, then left.

He walked away with his hands behind his back, right in front of Mr. Tian.

Wait, that's not right. He was the one who came to demand an explanation.

Mr. Tian wanted to say something, but Ron had already gotten into the car and driven away.

Sly Indians! However, Mr. Tian wasn't too angry; he still held a trump card and was confident that Ron would come begging him later.

Sitting in the car, Ron secretly curled his lip. This Japanese thought he was a pushover.

They hadn't even finished debugging the production line and were already thinking about getting paid. What would happen later?

Core components, maintenance, upgrades... Ron could almost imagine countless hurdles waiting for him later.

These Japanese are really bad!

If he didn't have something to hold over them, NEC would constantly have him under their thumb.

Hmm, the $1.2 million final payment is the bargaining chip.

Want money beyond the deposit? Sorry, India doesn't have that tradition.

Returning to the workshop in the north, Ron discussed the plan for the upcoming production of black and white TVs with Ashish and the others.

Strangely enough, East University and NEC were unaware that two TV production lines were being built simultaneously within Sur Industrial Park.

According to the agreement with NEC, the land on the south side of Sur Industrial Park would be used by Sur-NEC Electrical Appliances Company in the future.

It's normal for an industrial park to have multiple companies, so Mr. Tian and the others didn't think much of it.

East University's people were even less concerned about matters outside their immediate vicinity; they were overly cautious and didn't go anywhere except the northern workshop during working hours.

Thus, the two sides were over a kilometer apart, located within the same park, yet unaware of each other's existence.

This was perfect; Ron could quietly make a fortune. Some things shouldn't be known by the Japanese too early.

After some discussion, Ron decided to prepare an initial batch of 10,000 units of 14-inch TVs.

This was quite a bold decision; the production cost alone was 16 million rupees.

When they decided to produce water-cooled air conditioners, the first batch was only a thousand units.

In less than two years, Ron was taking bigger and bigger steps.

In fact, he wasn't satisfied with 10,000 units. If it weren't for the fact that only this many core component picture tubes were initially ordered, he would have wanted to order 20,000 units.

No other reason, it was just too cheap.

Sur Electrical Appliances was preparing to price the 14-inch black and white TV at 4,000 rupees per unit.

How much were the other two companies selling similar-sized black and white TVs for in the Indian domestic market?

The cheapest was 8,000 rupees, and that was for OEM products. If they were originally imported, the price was no less than 12,000 rupees.

High import tariffs made imported appliances in the Indian market generally more than double the price overseas.

Sur Electrical Appliances' move was equivalent to directly slashing the market price by half.

It was too crazy, nobody played like this.

Following a cost-effective route didn't mean giving it away at a massive discount.

Ashish and the others suggested setting the retail price at 6,000 rupees, which was already 25% cheaper than the market price, and plenty of people would buy it.

No, Ron was not aiming for that small profit.

He wanted to seize the entire market share from the two local manufacturers, including Onida and Videocon, as well as other imported brands.

Slowly planning was too slow; a nuclear-level trump card was the most effective.

Besides, was there no profit at a price of 4,000 rupees?

Ron said he would lose money and become the richest man.

The total cost was only 1,600 rupees, and this was just the beginning; it would be completely possible to reduce it by another 20%-30% after mass production later.

After deducting the 15% profit left for dealers, Ron's net profit per TV was 1,800 rupees.

The profit margin exceeded one hundred percent, which was insane.

Another advantage of low pricing was that the market would expand; people who previously thought TVs were too expensive would also be tempted.

This was a growing market, and Sur Electrical Appliances would have no competitors for the next few years.

To ensure sufficient supply when the product launched, Ron placed another order for 20,000 sets of picture tubes with East University.

There was no other way; when technical capabilities were insufficient, they could only rely on imports.

If Sur TVs were profitable enough, Ron planned to discuss introducing a picture tube production line with East University.

But that was for later; the most important thing now was to take people to see the Japanese color TV production line.

The workers had already left, and the Japanese had left an hour earlier.

They stayed here for less than six hours each day, which included time spent slacking off.

The workshop was quiet; once the lights were turned on, the entire scene was visible.

It must be said that because they bought brand new equipment, the color TV workshop looked much more advanced than the black and white one.

The few people from East University marveled at the new equipment; this was completely beyond their expectations.

They were told about making black and white TVs, but you secretly set up a color TV production line as well.

Looking at the setup, the project progress was already more than halfway complete.

"Gentlemen, how about it? Can you make color tubes that match this production line?"

"Is this a production line from Japan?" East University's technical staff were experienced and saw its origin at a glance.

"NEC's assembly line, new equipment."

"Good, very good."

Even the people from East University were a little envious of this stuff.

Their domestic color TV technology also relied heavily on cooperation with Japan.

Core components like chips and color tubes were previously basically all in the hands of the Japanese.

Only in the past two years have local component manufacturers gradually mastered those technologies.

However, precisely because of this, East University's technology followed the same path as the Japanese.

"There are no manufacturers in China that cooperate with NEC, but Japanese technology is largely similar. At least three color tube factories can match the production line here."

"Are you sure?" Ron was overjoyed.

"Of course, if your company needs it, we can contact them on your behalf and have them send people over for technical adaptation."

"Oh, that would be really great. But there's no rush for now, let's wait a bit longer until the production line is adjusted."

Now the Japanese's wishful thinking was going to fall flat, Ron secretly gloated.

Did they really think Sur Electrical Appliances couldn't handle color TVs without NEC?

Naive! You know nothing about the bottom line of Indians.

To thank the people from East University for their help, Ron specifically took them out to eat at the Taj Mahal Hotel in the evening.

This delighted them; a five-star hotel! They didn't have such treatment in China.

After eating and drinking their fill, Ron was ready to go back, but Ashish stopped him.

"Boss, can I have your receipt?"

"What for? You're not trying to take it back for reimbursement, are you?" Ron looked at him amusedly.

"Of course not, I just want to keep it as a souvenir."

"Hmm?"

"When I tell people I ate at the Taj Mahal Hotel, they don't believe me at all. Because they think it's absolutely impossible to spend over ten thousand rupees on one meal."

Ashish was temporarily living in Karma Courtyard as well, where everyone was poor.

Ordinary Indians could only gaze at the Taj Mahal Hotel, a fortress symbolizing prestige.

Anyone who had eaten there was a symbol of a successful person, someone who had worked hard for themselves.

Ashish was planning to show off properly this time, guaranteeing that his neighbors would be stunned.

Speaking of which, Ashish wasn't actually planning to live in Karma Courtyard for long.

He bought a house, on Mira Road. It was not far from his sister Laju's apartment and also very close to Sur Industrial Park.

The house was very cheap; he paid in full, only using less than one hundred thousand rupees.

He could, of course, continue to wait for Sur Electrical Appliances' employee dormitory to be built, but a dormitory was just a dormitory; it didn't have the same sense of belonging as a house he bought himself.

Ashish also planned to buy a Sur TV internally; then everything would be perfect.

"Oh, Boss, when are our TVs going to be launched?"

"Starting tomorrow, both production lines will operate at full capacity, with people working non-stop in two shifts, to stock up for a month first."

"No problem, we have experience." Ashish readily agreed.

When the water-cooled air conditioners ramped up production, they did it this way too; Sur Electrical Appliances' system was already operating quite smoothly.

"Oh, what about advertising?"

"We'll start warming up next week. This time, we're going to run a unique ad."

"How so?" Ashish's eyes lit up.

"You'll know soon." Ron smiled mysteriously.

He was already contacting Quan Yin Television, several developing private TV stations, and major newspapers and magazines.

He planned to flood the media with Sur TV ads, controlling the entire Indian media for a week.

The most direct and effective way to advertise is through indiscriminate carpet bombing and saturation bombing.

No matter where you are, if you read a newspaper or watch TV, you will definitely not miss the Sur TV ad.

Of course, to be effective, the advertisement also had to be eye-catching.

Hmm, Ron planned to keep it simple this time.

No need to shoot an ad film, and certainly no need to hire Bollywood stars.

One picture, one sentence would be enough.