In 1979, with just $19 in his pocket, few would have given Vijay Nahata much of a chance in the US. More so, since the first job of the immigrant from Rajasthan was to sell newspapers, from which he graduated to driving a taxi.
By the mid-eighties, however, Nahata had saved enough to pay for a trip to China, by then a country seen as the new Promised Land. On his way back, Nahata took some craft items back, and voila, he had a business going! From this, his trade grew to metals and, according to Nahata, by 1997, his volumes were at $100 million.
That's when Nahata made the jump, and set up a diamond cutting and polishing unit in China, at a time when India was seen as the destination for low-end cutting and polishing, and Belgium and Israel for the top-end work.
Today, with 1,300 workers in his Panyu unit in Gounghou, Nahata's Real Oriental Diamond Product Co is one of China's six biggest diamond exporting firms, and the only one owned by an Indian. Nahata now spends half of his time in China, and half in the US, where his family lives. China, he says, exports diamonds worth around $2 billion today.
Several other members of the Ficci delegation accompanying Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to China have equally successful stories, though it must be said that for most, the visit is exploratory in nature.
Rajeshwar Mishra, group managing director of Orind Refractories, shifted his production of refractory bricks (used as lining in furnaces) in 1995, making it India's first wholly-owned investment in China.
The $10 million initial investment today yields annual sales of thrice that amount. The only cloud is that some months ago, the government imposed an export tax of around 12 per cent, presumably to promote exports of the raw material he uses.
But since, as he says, all big exporters are treated like damaads (sons-in-law) in China, the local government has taken up cudgels on his behalf.
What's interesting is the common factor in both Nahata and Mishra's move to China. It's a man called M H Pastakia, who runs two successful Indian restaurants (The Taj Pavilion).
Both Nahata and Mishra swear, while Pastakia blushes a deep red, that the restaurateur helps any Indian who comes to Beijing, with complimentary food, and with help in finding a house and a school for the kids, anything.
On this trip though
