Super Man

He is, indeed, no ordinary salesman, but a middle-rung bureaucrat who has magically transformed the fortunes of the Jammu Co-op Wholesale Limited Super Bazar. As general manager of the state government undertaking, Naresh Sharma has converted the Rs 1,378 cash in hand to a monthly turnover of Rs 30-35 lakh in just six months. Little wonder then that he has a message for the Jammu Kashmir Government which is striving hard to revive its ailing economy, especially the cooperative institutions and other loss-making public sector undertakings.

When Sharma took charge of the Super Bazar, its staff had not received salary for 18 months, it owed Rs 30-35 lakh to merchandise suppliers and it had not deposited the Compulsory Provident Fund CPF8212;amounting to Rs 53 lakh8212;of its employees with the Provident Fund Commissioner in a decade.

Today, Super Bazar has nearly Rs 7 lakh as cash in hand in its bank account and the employees get their salary, nearly Rs 3.5 lakh a month. It has also started depositing Rs 35,000 towards CPF every month, a mandatory requirement by any state government undertaking as per the existing labour laws.

Significantly, Sharma has wrought this transformation without any financial help from the state Government, which has been seeking financial assistance from the Centre to revive the state8217;s cooperative institutions and agriculture banks. In fact, on April 7, the state Government signed a Memorandum of Understanding MoU with the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development for a Rs 220 crore package to revitalise its cooperative credit institutions.

8220;Financial help, keeping in view its performance, will also be provided to Super Bazar, Jammu,8221; said Abdul Aziz Zargar, Minister for Agriculture and Cooperatives, adding that he had been told Sharma was doing well and that the Bazar had shown profit as well.

8220;During the past six months, we have done a business of nearly Rs 200 lakh, which comes to Rs 30-35 lakh a month, and it8217;s rising every day,8221; says Sharma. 8220;Though the employees are yet to get their arrears, we hope to clear them soon if the business continues to show an upward trend,8221; he adds.

G.M. Qasba, Registrar, Cooperatives, who recently visited Super Bazar, recalls that 8220;it appeared some activity had been going on there8221;, though it would take an annual audit to know the true picture.

Sharma is stoically not focussing on people8217;s reactions, but on work, finding solutions where none seemed to exist. So instead of pressing for pruning the surplus staff, he just decided to make everybody work. He convened a meeting of the 90-odd staffers and convinced them that they could get regular salaries only if the institution made profit. The staff assured him their cooperation.

8220;As we had little cash to start a new business, we decided to begin on a small scale, selling gift items on retail basis shortly before Diwali,8221; says Sharma. But when he tried to get the suppliers in Jammu and Delhi to provide gift items, they expressed their unwillingness because of the previous uncleared bills.

8220;I assured them prompt payments at the end of each day and asked them to supply goods to us against a challan. They agreed, and in the next ten days we sold gift items worth Rs 8 lakh. Of this, 10 per cent was our profit,8221; Sharma points out.

8220;As we made payments to the parties, we gained their confidence. The word spread and other people who had snapped ties with us also agreed to do business with us,8221; he recalls.

Encouraged by the sale of gift items, Sharma organised a sale of winter garments. 8220;We offered discounts and registered a sale of Rs 25 lakh over the next two months. Of this, our profit was Rs five lakh,8221; he points out, adding that the daily turnover had reached over Rs 1 lakh by end of March this year.

To achieve all this was not easy. Initially, the employees were hesitant to take on new roles, so Sharma took the initiative and left his cabin to become a salesman or positioned himself on the road, inviting people to visit Super Bazar. Soon, the entire staff started to toe the line. And things began changing for the better.

8220;We have reached the break-even point,8221; Sharma says. Now to make it profitable, he intends to approach known business concerns in the country, offering them space and manpower to sell their products. 8220;We will sell their products and in turn they will have to share a part of their profit with us,8221; he adds.

He has apprised his minister and senior officials of his plans, who have agreed to the concept of public-private partnership. It8217;s a cinch, this plan will work too.