MIHAN: The serious business destination…

It was 6 pm to reach the airport Terminal 2 and I was already late to catch the 6.40 pm Air India flight from Mumbai to Nagpur.

It was literally a marathon to reach the Gate No.43, when I heard the air hostess calling my name with the last and final boarding call announcement.

“Seat no.6 F, I am sorry,” I said and took the window seat after troubling my co-passenger.”

“It’s okay”.....said the bald old man with French beard. While settling down, the newspaper in my hand just slipped from my hand. And the old man in his early sixties picked it up.

“MIHAN rates hiked to offset 170 cr. loss on discount to Patanjali” He read the headlines of the news-article about MIHAN and hung his head in frustration, “Government is increasing the land rates in MIHAN, but are there any takers?” He asked the other co-passenger.

“Certainly not... otherwise MIHAN would have been full with companies, but the fact is that, it’s a long awaited dream.” The other male co-passenger in his mid-forties with specs opined,

“Have you brought a property in MIHAN?” Asked the old man.

“Me....no. Actually I am going to Nagpur after a gap of 8 years, my brother lives there, but whatever I had heard about MIHAN before 8 years is still not a reality,” the other co-passenger replied.

I was listening to this conversation without disturbing the two gentlemen, when the old man asked,

“Are you from Nagpur?

“Oh yes. I am.”

“Do you work there in Nagpur?” was his next question.

“Yes, I do” I replied.

“So what difference do you find in the development of Mumbai & Nagpur. I mean do you think Nagpur can become like Mumbai, someday, as it was promised a decade back.”

“I don’t think Nagpur or any other city can become like Mumbai. Mumbai is the financial and business capital of India and no other city can match Mumbai. But every city has its own pros &cons” I spoke my mind.

“But I don’t think Nagpur has making pros. Otherwise the young crowd of Nagpur wouldn’t have migrated to Mumbai or Pune. MIHAN, which was the only hope of youth, is also a reverie.” The Old man opined.                           .

“Yes. According to me MIHAN is a flop show. After the new government formation in central and state, there was some propaganda, but again there is nothing much happening. Reliance Aerospace is also not coming forward to set up its aerospace park. Boeing MRO is also idle and how they are increasing the land rates for some food park. Who will come then? Already the real estate’s rates in MIHAN have soared due to MIHAN” The other co-passenger furnished the details.

“How do you know so much about MIHAN?” was my obvious question.

“I am a small garment businessman in Nagpur and I keep reading about MIHAN in newspapers & other media. That’s how I know these details” He replied.

“Oh that’s cool. But have you ever been to MIHAN? I mean have you visited or seen MIHAN with your own eyes?”

“What do you mean? Of course, I have seen the W building and the first city real estate project” He replied confidently.

“Have you been to the ‘W’ Building?” I probed a little.

“Not actually!!! But my business friends have been there and they say there is not much of development”, He replied but the tone was low.

“Hmmm. But it’s high time you should visit the place yourself. You will see lot of development there now.”

“How can you be so sure about the latest developments in MIHAN,” interrupted the old co-passenger.

“Sir, I work for MADC and sit in the W- building office,” I replied.

Both of them were astounded to listen this.

“Oh! So you work with MIHAN, I mean the state government company?” The businessman asked.

“Yes sir, I work with MADC, the government company that is implementing MIHAN project.”

“In what capacity?”The old co-passenger asked.

“I am a Manager there, looking after the investor’s relations”

“That’s Great...I am Sunil Agrawal” The businessman introduced himself with handshake.

“I am Atul Thakare” I gave my introduction.

“I read your name in newspaper in one of the MIHAN story. By the way, I am Khanna,” the old man introduced himself,

“So since you are working with MIHAN so closely, tell me frankly, is there a future to MIHAN?”

I smiled at his question and replied, “Sir I am not a fortune-teller to comment about the future. But I can very well tell about the present situation of MIHAN”.

“So what’s the situation of MIHAN at present? Are new companies really interested in Nagpur? Or just the foreign delegations visit MIHAN as their routine task?” The businessman asked.

“Sir you are in garment business, right? Do all the potential buyers you meet get converted as your customers?”

“No. Of course not. It’s law of averages. Out of 100 calls only 8 to 10 will give you business”

“Exactly. That’s what my submission is. Not all the companies that visit MIHAN become investors, but it’s not that all of them are going somewhere else. Let me give a real example of the American Consulate delegation’s visit to MIHAN in Dec 2014. Actually senior officials from Amazon, Wall Mart were also a part of that delegation. We told Amazon about the warehousing zone in MIHAN and that’s how Amazon started its operations at TCI warehouse in MIHAN. Of course it took six months and a lot of follow up by TCI officials”

“Oh! So Amazon is there at MIHAN. I didn’t know this. Which all companies all there in MIHAN?” Mr. Khanna asked.

“Sir apart from Amazon, there is Future Supply Chain and in fact the top players in every sector are present at MIHAN. From IT we have TCS, Infosys Tech Mahindra and HCL from pharmaceuticals, we have Lupin Pharma and from aviation sector, we have Air India-Boeing and TAL. And sir, the Air India MRO is not idle; it has minimum one aircraft for service and overhaul every month.” I explained with a sense of pride.

“I have heard of this companies taking land in MIHAN. But are these companies actually functioning?”

“Sir i am talking only about operational companies. Some people actually don’t visit MIHAN and criticise whereas few people try to sell their product or service by painting a false picture of MIHAN. But now we live in the age of information. You can get to know a lot of things through internet. Just Google which Tata group company is operational in Vidarbha region, or where are the top Indian MNC’s in Vidarbha? You will reach to only one destination and that’s MIHAN.” If all this companies like TCS or Infosys have invested in MIHAN, do you think they have done it without any research or analysis?

“No.... No.... of course, they must have done some research. But then why people are talking negative about MIHAN?”

“Not everybody is talking negative, sir. Yes there is some faction who had very huge expectations from MIHAN and who think that those expectations are not fulfilled are little bit disappointed. But when the overall business scenario is dull, how can MIHAN be an exception to it. People must understand that it’s a business project. And there are ups and downs in business. The Global recession has hit all the major businesses. Still things are changing now. We are receiving interest from many mid-size and small companies. In fact, in the W-building itself there are 10 IT companies. People have started seeing MIHAN as a serious business destination. The only thing is that we have to look at it with our mind and eyes open.”

“Seriously.... now i think i must visit MIHAN,” said Mr. Khanna.

“You are most welcome sir and you too, sir.” I said.  

In the meanwhile, the Air hostess started announcing the landing of the aircraft and our discussion about MIHAN came to an end. 

Also read my other blog @ atulycce.blogspot.in