Free The Polyester Prince by Hamish McDonald

around Ahmedabad trying to persuade shopkeepers to stock Reliance fabrics. ‘We were determined we should not fail,’ Kothari said.

    Dhirubhai worked everyone hard, often calling his managers in Naroda at 6 am from Bombay before they started out to work. They were expected to solve problems on their own initiative. Dhirubhai himself set the example. Suresh Kothary recalled one incident when spare parts were urgently needed for imported machines at Naroda. Dhirubhai had the parts flown in from Germany, and then discovered that no trucks were available for the haul up to Ahmedabad. He bought two trucks, one to carry the parts and one as a backup, and sent up the consignment. The trucks were then sold in Ahmedabad.

    But he was forgiving of honest mistakes, recalls Sangvi. In one case, Sangvi was overtrusting of some merchants who had placed an order from Patna, the capital city of Bihar state across in eastern India. Sangvi sent the consignment by rail, collectable on presentation of a payment receipt at a Patna bank branch. The merchants forged the receipt and took delivery from the railway yard. Reliance lost 900000 rupees, a considerable sum at that stage, and it took months to recover it. Sangvi said: ‘Dhirubbai just told me: “Nathu, nothing to worry-in business, anything can happen. I know you have done it to increase the sales. I am with you and you just concentrate on the business.”’ Reflecting back on his career, as vice-president of the Reliance textile division, Sangvi said: ‘I feel myself very fortunate that I have been working under such a legendary figure.’

    K. I. Patel, who had been recruited by his relative Maganbhai Patel to Besse and Co in 1953, returned to India in 1965. Soon after, Ramnikbhai Ambani, with whom he had worked in the Besse automotive division, hired him for Naroda and put him in charge of the knitting machines. Patel knew nothing about them, but was sent to West Germany and japan later for formal training. He stayed with Reliance until retirement in 1993. ‘The years passed before we knew it, we were so busy,’ Patel recalled.

    The result was steady growth in sales and profits for Reliance. In 1967, the first full year of production at Naroda, the company recorded sales of Rs 9 million in 1967, yielding a net profit of Rs 1.3 million. Dhirubhai and his family shareholders refused to take dividends and kept ploughing earnings back into more machines. After a decade of manufacturing, in 1977 Reliance had a turnover of Rs 680 million, and profits of Rs 105 million.

    In an extensive write-up on the company in August 1979, the Indian Textile Journal reported on a massive factory at Naroda occupying 230 000 square metres and employing 5000 staff. It had banks of machines for texturising or ‘crimping’ artificial fibres to give particular sheens, machines for twisting the polyester and nylon fibres into yarns, and machines for weaving the yarns into textiles. The yarns were sold to other Indian textile manufacturers, or used in-house.

    Most significantly perhaps, Dhirubhai established his own brand name, Vimal (named after a son of his brother Ramnik), by dint of lavish advertising under the slogan ‘Only Vimal’. This somewhat snobbish slogan, and some well-publicised fashion shows in top-class hotels, added a touch of class to a product that basically appealed to the less wealthy market sectors. In addition, Dhirubhai had got around the reluctance of established wholesalers and shopkeepers to accept a new brand by creating his own network of shops. Across India, some 400 shops were franchised to sell the Vimal brand of polyester materials for saris, shirts, suits and dresses.

    In one of the first of many eulogies to appear in the Indian press, the Textile Journal noted how Dhirubhai was held in ‘high esteem’ by his staff, who attributed Vimal’s success to his dynamic leadership. ‘When the construction of the factory was going on, it is reported, many snakes were seen