News - Bankrupted four times... Businessman who recovered like a phoenix and found success...

" I have enough failure stories to write a book called The Failure Pages of a Winner. Bhavarlal Jain has said that I have gone into bankruptcy four times in my life and recovered.

In 1962 Bhavarlal Jain left a prospective government job and entered the industry because his mother told him to. Let’s see how he started a company called Jain Irrigation and built such a huge empire.

Born in Jain community in Maharashtra, they are native to Rajasthan. From there, their family came to Maharashtra in the late 1800s. After completing his schooling at Jalgaon, Bhavarlal went to Mumbai to study law. The plan was what you can do after studying.

He wrote the exam for the Government of India. But did not get the marks required to become IAS. At the same time, he wrote the Maharashtra Service Commission exam. It was successful. Government job, permanent income guaranteed.

At the same time, two opportunities were open to Bhavalal , namely the opportunity to join the then famous lawyerRoysoni as an assistant.

At that time, Bhavarlal spoke to an important leader in the Jain community and asked for his advice on these two possibilities. He gave the advice that "Born in Jain society why go to work... You can start your own business". But when asked the question of where to go for investment,"If you are ready to do business, investment will come to you. I will also help if needed’ he said.

During this time of confusion, Bhavarlal sought his mother’s advice. Mother could not read or write. She gave a different answer. "If we go to government work or other work, we can meet the needs of our dependents and not just ourselves. But you can feed birds and animals only if you have your own business. That is what makes me happy’, she said. Some older men disagreed. But due to his mother’s plea, Bhavarlal Jain got Rs.7000 which had been saved for three generations. This amount is the capital for Jain Irrigation.

He started trading with this money. He used to do some business like petrol station. Then a Borwell vehicle came to put diesel. It had the words ’Agriculture—a profession with a future’. He thought a lot about it. He inquired about the various opportunities available in the agriculture sector. Bhavarlal Jain got into it and started doing all the agricultural work. He was involved in all fields like fertilizers, seeds, pharmaceuticals, agricultural implements. The company grew from a turnover of Rs 10 lakhs in 1963 to a turnover of Rs 11 crores in 1978. As the group grew, so did the investments. To put it in his own words, "Every victory blinds our eyes. There were so many expansionary activities.

The group was involved in several unrelated expansion activities, including hardware, granite, and IT companies. As a result, the group went bankrupt.

The situation was so bad that in 1997 he wrote an apology letter in a newspaper saying, "I apologize to the investors and all stakeholders. Our conclusions are wrong. The responsibility to fix this is mine," he published in the newspaper. A public sector bank issued a bankruptcy notice because Bhawarlal Jain owed 5 crore rupees. "Come and see our factory; "There is no problem in our important business," Bhawarlal said. But the banker replied, "I don’t care even if you build the Taj Mahal; "When will I get my money back" and humiliated him. After this, he sold the majority of the company’s shares to Aqua International Partners and saved the company with the proceeds.

The family’s share fell from 73 percent to 37 percent. In 2000, the share price fell to a minimum of Rs.8. In 2005, the price of one share rose to Rs 160. The investment firm also exited the same year.

Jain Irrigation is an agricultural equipment company. Each state government will provide the subsidy. But, as this subsidy does not come on the right date, there will be shortage in the financial flow. As a result, the company incurred losses.

So Jain Irrigation stopped doing credit business. This affected 35% of the sales. Farmers who depend only on subsidies cannot use anything. In this context, a non-banking financial institution called sustainable agro-commercial finance (SAFL) was started. Farmers take loans from these financial institutions and pay the subsidy as soon as it is received. Although Jain Irrigation has a substantial stake in this, the remaining stake was raised with the help of banks and financial institutions. Bhavarlal ran the Jain irrigation company after a heart attack at the age of 46, 5 heart attacks and two heart surgeries. Bhavarlal Jain, who lived to the age of 79, passed away in 2016.

Jain irrigation is still in trouble. Debt is high. So the rating has fallen with them. It is in the hands of Bhavarlal Jain’s sons whether Jain, who has recovered from the collapse in many ways, will recover. Bhavarlal Jain has said that I have gone into bankruptcy four times in my life and recovered. Buavarlal’s story of big success and big failure is a good lesson for all businessmen!