Once upon a time a young man in Rajkot was wasting his life away. For a very long time he blamed his father for his failures and spent many years plunging in negativity doing nothing. He missed his STD 12 examinations to take part in a local-level chess competition. His life was aimless and there was nobody to guide him. So what happened that he is now leading a company with a thousands of employees and clocking an annual turnover of Rs 600 crore?
We bring you the unknown and untold story of Parakramsinh Jadeja from Rajkot whose life is an inspiration to everyone who is striving to overcome their struggles and create a magnificent life. He grew up in an infamous locality of Rajkot where most of the people were involved in gambling and trading of illicit liquor. An average student since the beginning, chess fascinated Parakramsinh more than anything. His passion for the board game rose to such levels that he even planned on missing his STD 12 examinations for a national-level competition. When he asked his father for advice he simply said, “do what you like.”
Obviously, he liked to play chess more than sitting for his examinations. Now he was left without a degree with no aims to chase. He asked his father for money for travel and other expenses. After a few days his father got him Rs 10,000. A week later he got him Rs 5,000 and then after another ten days he got him Rs 5,000. Parakram found this irritating and said, “Why can’t you give me all the money at once. I am leaving in three days!”
His poor father explained how he got the money from provident fund, credit society and loan from his friends. This left Parakram stunned. Until now he never knew about the financial challenges his father had to face. He was deeply affected by this incident and decided to leave his interest in games and do something to contribute to his family.
A friend told him about a government scheme that got him a loan amount of Rs 35,000 without any interest. He bought a lathe machine (metal cutting machine) from that money and rented a shop. An uncle in the business agreed to train him and give him orders against some weekly money that Parakram had to give him. This seemed like a fair idea to him. He began working hard on getting the machines just right and within one year they were able to repay the entire sum.
When I started the business there was no dream or vision as such. It was the need to survive.
Next, he took on the challenge of making aprons (machinery) which was a considerably difficult task for a newbie like him. He spent hours studying the design and believed there is a way to replicate the model. His uncle required five aprons but a local dealer named Jadhvani was making him wait for several weeks. Parakram promised that he would supply his uncle five aprons in 20 days and kept the promise. This was the beginning of a larger inning for him as he started supplying aprons all over the city driving Jadhvani out of business.
In 1991, his performance was noticed by a local bank which offered him a loan of Rs 5 lakh for only 1 percent interest per annum. Parakram decided to use this money on buying an AutoCAD computer which would help him in designing machines better. In those days the computer costed him Rs 1.6 lakh which was a huge sum of money. Everyone advised him not to invest such a huge amount on buying computer but he was convinced that the power of technology would boost his growth. “I bought the computer and purchased a scooter much later,” he says.
His decision was correct and buying a computer gave their company a solid edge over others. his products were now made with much precision and perfection. Powered by confidence, he took another bold step in 1993 and decided to manufacture lathe machines! until now only big companies like Kirloskar and HMT did this. With only 16 employees his company was having an annual turnover of Rs 25 lakh.
I had no engineering degree but I always believed nothing is impossible in this world.
Parakram Singh made it a point that his company will never put up with rude behavior and began pitching to consumers directly rather than going through the dealers. This ushered in tremendous growth for them as well as increasing the work pressure. “We never gave any advertisements. Our quality did the mouth publicity for us,” says Parakram. He named his company Jyoti CNC Automation after his sister.
His attitude of commanding respect, never compromising with quality and always giving technology its due place has brought him to a place where he sits over an annual turnover of Rs 600 crore! He has more than 1,200 employees now who see him with great respect. All the money and success still hasn’t wiped out the humility in him and he makes it a point to have his lunch everyday at the company canteen.
An aimless boy made Rs 600 crore from a loan amount of Rs 30,000. Share this inspirational story.
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