Making of an entrepreneur: a journey

with leather – MVR Leathers

Venkatesh Murthy and Jaganth G.

n any given economy, entrepreneurship germinates within a broad socio-cultural, Venkatesh Murthy is based

I economic and political environment. If compared, the contexts of developing countries

differ from those of developed ones. While developing economies offer opportunities in
at Department of
Economics and Public
Policy, Indian Institute of
the form of an untapped market, and resources, they also pose several challenges at micro,
Management Rohtak,
meso and macro levels. Micro-level issues could be classified as individual-centric
Rohtak, India. Jaganth G. is
concerns such as entrepreneurial traits, socio-economic background of the entrepreneur’s based at Department of
family, his/her educational attainment and linkages with friends and relatives. At the meso Management and Labour
level, issues such as financial institutions, training and learning environment, subsidies and Studies, Tata Institute of
government incentives form the core of the entrepreneurship ecosystem. At the macro level, Social Sciences, Mumbai,
the overall economic condition of a state, labour market conditions, export and import India.
systems, the dichotomy between small- and large-scale firms, consumers’ disposable
income level, inflation rate and overall investment in industrial activities drive the
entrepreneurship. In such a dynamic environment, the present case raises an important
question as to how could an individual make his/her way into a leather business as an
entrepreneur? Also, what are the subsequent struggles of the entrepreneur? To explore
these questions, we chose MVR Leathers, a firm located in the vicinity of Tamil Nadu’s (TN)
capital (Chennai). TN is a federal state in India. As per the economic census, the state is
considered to be one of the top industrial destinations in India[1].
The story of MVR’s founder, Venkat Raj, offers insights on the challenging journey of an
entrepreneur in a developing country. As a child, he inherited neither economic nor social
capital. It impacted his education and skill acquisition in the early years. In spite of these
limitations, he kept looking for opportunities in various fields. His early years as a
leatherworker helped him develop knowledge in leather processing. Later in 2008,
acquiring a firm (MVR Leathers) and becoming an entrepreneur was a difficult journey for
Raj, one that included numerous obstacles. His struggles do not end there. Instead, a new
set of challenges got attached with his role as an entrepreneur. These included a shortage
of labour, problems with customer retention and a cash crunch because of macro-
economic policy changes. In this discussion, we need to figure out possible ways to help
the entrepreneur overcome these challenges.

Humble beginning
After completing matriculation, Raj joined a polytechnic college to pursue an education in Disclaimer. This case is written
solely for educational purposes
electrical engineering. However, in his views, organising and participating in a student and is not intended to represent
protest as the leader of the student group led to his drop-out from the college within a year successful or unsuccessful
managerial decision-making.
of his joining. The protest was to seek direct admission into the second year of the The authors may have
disguised names; financial and
engineering programme for individuals who had completed diploma studies. Raj’s other recognisable information
leadership in the student protest antagonised the college administration and eventually led to protect confidentiality.

DOI 10.1108/EEMCS-05-2019-0141 VOL. 10 NO. 1 2020, pp. 1-20, © Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 2045-0621 j EMERALD EMERGING MARKETS CASE STUDIES j PAGE 1
 to the end of his college life. At the same time, his family was struggling with weak economic
circumstances, which compelled Raj to search for livelihood than seeking college
admission elsewhere.
Soon after leaving college in the early 1980s, Raj found a job as a conductor for a private
bus service, a job that did not fascinate him. Being an ambitious man, he wanted to be
professionally successful. The job market was not going to make this easy, because, in
those days, the job market in his hometown of Tamil Nadu was poorly positioned
(Shanmugasundaram, 1983). In spite of his disinterestedness in working for others, Raj
continued to work as a private bus conductor for the sake of his family. After a few years,
with the help of a relative, he found a new job as an electrician in the maintenance
department of a leather firm, in Chennai. This was the starting point for him to learn about
the leather business.

Learning the art of leather processing

A few months into his new job, Raj became curious about leather processing besides his
role. However, his role as an electrician did not give him a direct view of processing. He
approached his supervisor, seeking permission to learn the leather-processing trade. His
supervisor denied his request and gave him a strict warning to focus on the job at hand. Not
willing to give up, Raj approached the general manager (GM). This time he had slightly
modified his request. Instead of learning leather processing during his usual working hours,
he asked to devote time to it after work. As this new proposal would not hinder his
electrician duties, the GM granted permission gladly with the condition that a small portion
of Raj’s wages would be deducted for the training. Getting a cut in his wages was not an
easy option to accept, as his family was solely dependent on his earnings. However,
foreseeing a better future, Raj agreed to the cut. It is worth noting that the leather unit had
more than 200 employees, and had the entire leather processing activities in-house (end-
to–end Leather manufacturing process – from raw hides to finished leather). Therefore, Raj
saw it as an opportunity to acquire all the necessary skills needed to engage in the leather
business. He says now:
The reason as to why they started to charge for my training was simple. In those days, many
labourers used to avail the option of [on-the-job] training. Unfortunately, several of those who
availed such an opportunity would leave the training abruptly. Eventually, they would even leave
the company for a better prospect elsewhere. Therefore, paid training sessions on the job
served two purposes: (1) it discouraged several of us from pursuing on-the-job learning in a
different domain, and (2) even if a worker left after training, the company would not suffer any
loss as it had already recovered the fee for training.

Rise and fall

In a short period, Raj learnt the tricks of leather processing. He attained the status of a
tenured worker (guaranteed permanent employment) after gaining his GM’s trust. This
further resulted in Raj’s promotion to the leather-processing department. Also, the GM
allowed Raj to work in various sections of the factory that included participation in crucial
meetings with buyers and suppliers. In due course, the GM introduced Raj to several of
them. It helped him build a relationship with other entrepreneurs. This was a dream come
true for Raj, as he could gain hands-on experience in various technical and non-technical
stages involved in the leather-processing business.
In the Indian context, social relations matter when it comes to striking a deal with buyers/
suppliers (Murthy and Paul, 2017). Raj’s proximity with GM helped him gain direct access to
boardroom conversations. Also, he was introduced to the art of deal-making and breaking
with suppliers and buyers. These early lessons helped him develop social skills to build
linkages with different business parties in the later years. Importantly, without the active

PAGE 2 j EMERALD EMERGING MARKETS CASE STUDIES j VOL. 10 NO. 1 2020

support of superiors, it is hard for any lower rank employees to achieve what Raj
accomplished in a short time.
Broadly, we could argue that ethnical homogeneity (Landa, 1981) or homophily (McPherson
et al., 2001) might partly explain the close relationship between Raj and the GM. People’s
networks are likely to be homogeneous concerning sociodemographic, behavioural and
intrapersonal characteristics (Ibid). Interestingly, Raj and his GM speak the same language
(Tamil), both hail from the same region, and shared the same workplace. However, from the
economic class point of view, Raj differed from GM concerning bilingual skills and attire.
Irrespective of the differences in economic status, it appears to be an interesting social
relationship between two distinct people. In brief, we think that their shared social identity
might have played a part in their close association.
Therefore, their relationship has to be understood within a broad employee–employer
relation framework. Unless a worker like Raj consciously works towards building trust with
his boss, it is quite unlikely that his superiors would perceive him as a trustworthy person. In
brief, Raj seems to have made deliberate efforts in earning the confidence of his boss within
a short period. In a society whose culture is hierarchical (Hofstede, 1983), it becomes hard
for a lower rank employee to achieve reasonable proximity with the superiors. Therefore,
Raj’s case appears to be exceptional.
In the middle of all this, the sudden death of GM turned out to be a devastating blow in Raj’s
life. Losing the trusted warrior in the form of GM compelled the promoters of the firm to sell
out the business. A big corporate conglomerate acquired the firm. In Raj’s views, the
incoming management went hard on the existing workers. They showed no kindness for
poorly qualified worker such as Raj. The new management chose to appoint those workers
who had the right skills and education for a specific task. On-the-job learning was not
regarded as vital as it had been in the past. Raj was highly skilled, but he had a poor
educational background. This scenario induced him to look at alternatives. After realising
that he would not have any opportunity for advancement in the current firm, Raj decided to
set up his leather firm in association with a friend.
The transition from being an ordinary labourer in a leather firm to owning a firm was a
massive change for Raj. In the initial days of their business, the founders had to manage the
business with meagre financial resources, and fewer purchase orders. Procurement of raw
materials was another area of concern, as there was no standardisation of the process in
place. As a cost-cutting method, both the owners of the firm joined the labourers on the
factory floor. Early in their operations, the owners were faced with the challenges of
decision-making on various issues.
One of the challenges was choosing the right number of trading deals with potential
customers. The founders differed on a number of orders to be taken for the first phase of
production. While one of them felt that fewer orders could keep the business going forward,
the other founder was of the view that a substantial number of orders were needed to keep
the business moving forward. The other challenge was about the signing of agreements
with the customers. Raj says that his co-founder failed to recognise the long-term
implications of such agreements. Raj knew that if the agreements were poorly drafted,
customers might not remain loyal to the firm for a long time. Eventually, all this resulted in
losses, leading to the founders parting ways. Without any further disputes, they agreed to
shut down the firm. These challenges made Raj realise that building customer satisfaction is
more vital to sustaining a business for an extended period than making an immediate profit.

An opportunity kicks in
As he shut down the firm without an appropriate plan for the immediate future, Raj faced
with a financial burden. Then, an opportunity came his way. One of Raj’s earlier customers
(the owner of a big business firm), who had purchased processed leather from Raj’s

VOL. 10 NO. 1 2020 j EMERALD EMERGING MARKETS CASE STUDIES j PAGE 3

 recently closed firm, made an irresistible offer. The big firm was looking for a business
partner with whom to start a new venture in leather. The proposition was that a brother of the
current big business owner would become a co-owner with an incoming partner. Raj
agreed to be the co-owner with the brother of the big business owner. It looked as though
they had struck a perfect partnership. Raj knew about leather processing; the brother of the
big business owner did not. So Raj played the role as a mentor to his co-founder. In return
(in a quid-pro-quo manner), the newfound co-founder influenced his brother (who owned a
big leather-related firm) to procure processed leather from Raj’s firm. Hence, Raj and his
partner had a regular and more credible customer for their product. It helped Raj and his
partner grow their business without any significant hurdles over the next three years. They
were also able to attain a reasonable profit.

An unexpected hurdle
In 1995, the Pollution Control Board (PCB) closed down all the leather firms in the
Madhavaram Industrial Cluster (MIC), Chennai owing to the cluster’s proximity to a residential
area. As Raj’s firm was also located in this area, he had to abide by the enforcement. In the
early years of cluster formation, Madhavaram had been located at the outskirts of the city. In
the later period of the industrial boom, people had started to settle down in the region.
Challenging the PCB’s decision, all the leather business owners took the matter to court.
The court proceedings took one year. Fortunately, the verdict was in favour of the leather
firms, and hence they could resume operations. However, one year was too long for Raj’s
partner to wait. By the time the court verdict came, his partner had quietly planned to start a
large-scale firm of his own. This time, Raj ran out of luck; he did not get an offer to claim a
share in his partner’s new company. As this became evident, Raj and his partner mutually
agreed to close down the partnership firm.
Raj’s partnership and subsequent formation of a leather firm is a micro case to answer
Conner and Prahalad’s (1996) question as to why firms are formed? The knowledge
differences between individuals is a crucial source for them to come together and form a
business. Therefore, it is argued that knowledge-based considerations can outweigh
opportunism (Ibid). The point could well explain the first part of the partnership between Raj
and his partner. Raj thinks that the reason for his partnership with a brother of a big player
was solely because of Raj’s profound knowledge in leather processing (for detailed
technical aspects on leather processing, see Appendix 1). The first year of operations was a
good enough time for Raj’s partner to learn the tricks of leather processing. It implied that
Raj’s unique trait as a partner was no longer a worthy asset to keep him in the business.
However, they continued to do business until PCB intervened to stop the business
operation. This brief intervention did not give enough clues to Raj about the possible
breakdown of the partnership.
Having gained sufficient knowledge from Raj, in leather processing, his partner chose to
start a firm all by himself. It was quite reasonable on the part of Raj to expect a share in his
partner’s new venture, or at least maintain the old partnership going forward. Unfortunately,
Raj’s expectations came crashing, as eventually, they closed down the partnership firm
and, also, Raj did not get any share in his partner’s venture.
Though it is argued that knowledge-based considerations can outweigh opportunism
(Conner and Prahalad, 1996), it is interesting to observe how Raj was sidelined once the
uniqueness of his knowledge was lost. Therefore, it becomes clear that opportunism may
sneak into a business partnership if the other party loses his/her unique value in the
partnership.
This development came as a shock in Raj’s life, shattering all his hopes. He was jobless
once again. Moreover, as he had no business for the past year, he hardly had any
resources to look after his family. After the bitter closures of the past two partnerships, he

PAGE 4 j EMERALD EMERGING MARKETS CASE STUDIES j VOL. 10 NO. 1 2020

kept contemplating setting up a sole venture. In spite of his inadequate financial resources,
he kept pursuing his dream. He repeatedly discussed the idea with his friends and kept
seeking support.
One key aspect of the leather business is its innate demand for building a network of
potential buyers for leather products. Fortunately, Raj had established a strong network with
several buyers during his past two business dealings. Even after closing them down, he
continued to maintain a good rapport with past customers. After the closure of his second
venture, Raj revisited the customers and shared his thoughts on his new venture plan.
Referring to such network support, Raj says, “I was confident of getting enough purchase
orders from leather buyers if I started a new firm”. However, lack of financial resources and
non-availability of space were still challenges. In the meantime, a couple of business
aspirants approached Raj to start a partnership firm by offering capital and space support.
However, Raj never wanted to get into a partnership again.

Perseverance paid off

Raj’s wait for the right opportunity continued until 2001. Finally, through his social network,
he found a leather firm owner who was willing to lease the premises along with the
necessary machinery for three years (later the lease was extended further). Raj says,
“The owner readily gave control of the premise on rent. It was not difficult to make the deal
as the owner knew me through our common friends”.
For the first time, Raj started functioning as the sole owner of a business. In the first few
months, he was faced with a set of new challenges, including poor cash flow and irregular
purchase orders. To start with, he invested all his resources in procuring raw material
(unprocessed leather). In due course, quite luckily, he received a few purchase orders.
However, most of the purchases were on credit, resulting in reduced cash flow (many
buyers delayed payment for two to three months). In spite of this hurdle, Raj managed to
keep the business running. To fight the cash crunch, he persuaded his suppliers (raw
leather sellers) for credit-based sales. Eventually, he succeeded in getting the materials on
credit. With the help of his experience, Raj adopted high quality and on-time delivery as
critical parameters of customer satisfaction.
Interestingly, in 2008, Raj seized a vital opportunity when it arose. The owners of the current
premises proposed to sell the property to him. Raj purchased the property and made it his
permanent business premise (see Appendix 2 for the chronology of events). As of March
2019, the details of the firm are as follows (Table I).

A few data points on the leather industry

Table II presents insights on the overall industrial segment in the region (Tamil Nadu) in
which Raj’s firm is located. As shown in the table, leather firms constitute a minuscule share

Table I About MVR Leathers: a synoptic view

Buy-out price of MVR Leathers in 2008 $0.173mn (Rs 11,000,000)
Value of the firm as of March 2019 $0.8mn (Rs 55,000,000)
Number of employees as of March 2019 40
Local labourers 28
Migrant labourers 12
Number of customers 20
Amount of leather processed (quantity and amount) 25,000 pieces (price is Rs 300 per piece)
Annual turnover on an average $0.1mn (Rs 75,00,000)
Is it wholly owned? Yes
Outstanding loans Yes (about $0.145mn)

Source: Primary data

VOL. 10 NO. 1 2020 j EMERALD EMERGING MARKETS CASE STUDIES j PAGE 5

 Table II An overview of leather industry in Tamil Nadu (based on the economic census for different years)
Attributes 1998 2005 2013 Change in % (between 2005 and 2013)

Total number of firms 2,514,123 4,435,380 5,029,402 13.3928

Total workers 11,160,591 14,738,632 11,695,183 20.64
Number of leather firms 4,131 6,675 6,489 2.786
Number of workers in the leather industry 120,062 58,430 57,927 0.8608
Percentage of the leather firms 1.67 0.15 0.12
Notes: As we completed the writing of this case, we had the latest data for 2013 (sixth round of Economic Census. Government of India
conducts these surveys, roughly, once in five years). By late 2019 or early 2020, a fresh set of data from the seventh round of Economic
Census will be available for case discussants. It can be accessed on www.mospi.gov.in/7th-economic-census
Source: Economic Census of India1 (fourth [1998], fifth [2005] and sixth [2013] rounds)

of 0.12 per cent in 2013 as compared to 1.67 per cent in 1998. Between 2005 and 2013, the
number of leather firms declined (2.8 per cent) as against the 13 per cent increase in
overall firms. As per the 2013 survey, leather firms employed close to 0.5 percentage of the
total workforce of the region. At a meso level, if we compare 2005 and 2013, it becomes
clear that the number of workers in the leather industry is on the decline.

MVR Leathers’ recent challenges

As shown in Table III, between 2008 and 2015, MVR Leathers seemed to be on a steady
growth trajectory. However, between 2015 and 2019, the company is slowing down on all
attributes. Macro-economic trends such as the introduction of demonetisation in 2016 seem
to be an essential factor in the slowdown. “Demonetization is the act of stripping a currency
unit of its status as legal tender. It occurs whenever there is a change of national currency:
The current form/forms of money is/(are) pulled from circulation and retired, often to be
replaced with new notes or coins. Sometimes, a country completely replaces the old
currency with new currency” (Source: Investopedia).
In India, on the 8th November 2016, the central government demonetised the 500 and
1,000 Rupee currency notes. The government of India offered two reasons for
demonetisation:

1. “control counterfeit notes that could be contributing to terrorism; in other words, a

national security concern”; and
2. “undermine or eliminate the black economy” (Rao et al., 2016, p. 1).

Irrespective of what was achieved through demonetisation, supporters of the then

government defend the state’s decision by arguing that the initiative achieved two
things:

1. it brought the unaccounted cash back into the formal banking system; and
2. enhanced the personal income tax base (Singh and Bagchi, 2018).

However, the critiques of demonstration contest these claims by arguing that

Table III Growth of MVR in different years

Attributes 2008 2012 2015 2019

Number of workers 35 45 50 40
Number of customers 10 15 25 20
Quantity of leather processed (in 1,000 pieces) 25 30 45 25
Source: Primary data

PAGE 6 j EMERALD EMERGING MARKETS CASE STUDIES j VOL. 10 NO. 1 2020

䊏 the size of counterfeit currency was an exaggeration;
䊏 the state was poorly informed about what constituted the black money; and
䊏 demonetisation was unlikely to reduce interest rate for borrowers (Kohli and
Ramakumar, 2018, Chapter 15).
Therefore, there is no agreement amongst the economists on the achievements of
demonetisation. Recent research shows that small businesses were likely to be affected by
demonetisation, as the business transactions of these firms remained “cash-dependent”
even after the demonetisation (Kurosaki, 2019).
As shown in Tables I and III, Raj faced with challenges such as the hunt for labour from
outside regions (mostly the migrants) because of steady withdrawal of local labour force
from the leather industry. When there are migrant workers, in a firm of MVR nature, trust
issues from both the sides are likely to arise. Wage- and perk-related issues are also likely
to crop up. Though at present, the number of local labour is higher than the migrants, in the
coming days, Raj thinks that the size of local labour will become smaller and migrants may
occupy that space. Majority of migrants come to this part of the country mainly from the
regions that have poor human development as shown in Appendix 3. To an extent, macro
trends in human development concerns may affect Raj’s small firm. In an unskilled
employment segment such as leather processing, labour with no skills could find a job and
learn the skills while on the job. As we see in Table I, today MVR has 12 migrant and 28 local
labourers.
In comparison with other states, Tamil Nadu (the state where MVR is located), is positioned
higher in the Human Development Index (HDI). This trend is likely to grow over the years.
Coupled with the general tendency of workers to avoid working for a leather factory, and
higher HDI, more locals might choose to withdraw from the leather industry segment. As
shown in Table III, MVR accounted for the healthy growth of labour between 2008 and 2015.
However, the latest data showed a decline in the size of labour, in spite of the labour-
intensive production process. This further implies that the company’s growth is slowing
down.
Also, the data for the number of customers and the quantity of leather processed (Table III)
show a steep decline towards 2019. Most of the leather processed in Raj’s firm is of
exportable quality. A large number of his customers export leather to different countries
around the world. Raj’s job begins with procuring raw leather from his sellers and
processing it for his customers, using various chemical components. Though the
entrepreneur always has adopted strategies to work closely with his customers, retention of
their loyalty in the later years appears to be a challenge. This is a new task before the
entrepreneur as he/she has to figure out strategies to retain the old customers and search
for new buyers for his processed leather.

Entrepreneur’s and firm’s core competencies

䊏 The entrepreneur has several years of experience in the field of leather processing. This
helps him/her to produce high-quality leather that results in customer satisfaction.
䊏 The entrepreneur can fulfil the specific requirements of each customer (see Appendix 1
for stages involved in leather processing). He/she engages in a detailed discussion
with every customer before finalising an order. Further, he/she takes constant feedback
on product quality and delivery. In the end, these discussions help the entrepreneur
better understand his/her customers’ needs. Critical to any business, in Raj’s view, is
support from friends. He values his business relationships and invests time to maintain
good rapport with the customers. Besides their business-related interactions, Raj also
maintains personal friendships with the customers by engaging in conversations
beyond business and inviting them to take part in family functions. As a result, Raj has

VOL. 10 NO. 1 2020 j EMERALD EMERGING MARKETS CASE STUDIES j PAGE 7

 built a reputation over the past 11 years as one of the best quality processors of leather
and a timely supplier.
䊏 More importantly, the entrepreneur believes that his relationship with workers is an
essential aspect of the firm’s success. Several employees have worked in his firm for
more than 10 years. Raj claims that he gives employees higher rewards and superior
treatment than his counterparts in the industry.

Assignment questions
In the light of the entrepreneur and the firm’s core competencies, and the case facts, the
following case questions need to be addressed.
Q1. What are the critical internal and external factors in the entrepreneurial journey of
Raj?
Q2. 2.1 How could an entrepreneur overcome the shortage of local labour? Does the HDI
(Appendix 3) of the region (Tamil Nadu) explain it to some extent? 2.2 If there is a
shortage of labour, can the entrepreneur introduce automation in the production
process and thereby achieve capital intensive production?
Q3. How would you propose to help the budding leather entrepreneur to achieve the goal
Keywords: of customer retention?
Small businesses,
Entrepreneurship, Strategy, Q4. How should an entrepreneur respond to a macroeconomic shock such as withdrawal
Business development of currency notes from circulation?

Notes
1. www.mospi.gov.in/sites/default/files/economic-census/sixth_economic_census/all_india/7_ChapterII_
6ecRep.pdf Accessed 26 September 2019.
2. Vertical generational triangles in which parents at the top and children are at below, and horizontal
triangles in which siblings and non-family members are part of the more extensive family system.

References
Conner, K.R. and Prahalad, C.K. (1996), “A resource-based theory of the firm: knowledge versus
opportunism”, Organization Science, Vol. 7 No. 5, pp. 477-501.
Hofstede, G. (1983), “The cultural relativity of organizational practices and theories”, Journal of
International Business Studies, Vol. 14 No. 2, pp. 75-89.
Kohli, V. and Ramakumar, R. (2018), “Economic rationale of demonetisation”, in Ramakumar, R. (Ed.),
Note-Bandi: Demonetisation and India’s Elusive Chase for Black Money, Oxford University Press.
Kurosaki, T. (2019), “Informality, micro and small enterprises, and the 2016 demonetisation policy in
India”, Asian Economic Policy Review, Vol. 14 No. 1, pp. 97-118.
Landa, J.T. (1981), “A theory of the ethnically homogeneous middleman group: an institutional alternative
to contract law”, The Journal of Legal Studies, Vol. 10 No. 2, pp. 349-362.
McPherson, M., Smith-Lovin, L. and Cook, J.M. (2001), “Birds of a feather: homophily in social networks”,
Annual Review of Sociology, Vol. 27 No. 1, pp. 415-444.

Murthy, V. and Paul, B. (2017), “Nature of buyer-supplier relationship: small businesses in a small city”,
Journal of Small Business Management, Vol. 55 No. 3, pp. 365-387.

Rao, K. Mukherjee, S. Kumar, S. Sengupta, D.P. Tandon, S. and Nayudu, S.H. (2016), “Demonetisation:
impact on the economy”, Working Papers 16/182, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy,
available at: https://ideas.repec.org/p/npf/wpaper/16-182.html (accessed 2 October 2019).

Shanmugasundaram, V. (1983), “Employment and unemployment in Tamil Nadu”, in Robinson, A.,

Brahmananda, P.R. and Deshpande, L.K. (Eds), Employment Policy in a Developing Country a Case-
Study of India, Volume 2, International Economic Association Series, Palgrave Macmillan, London.

PAGE 8 j EMERALD EMERGING MARKETS CASE STUDIES j VOL. 10 NO. 1 2020

Singh, R.R. and Bagchi, A. (2018), “Demonetisation – a golden opportunity for widening the taxpayer base”,
available at: www.think-asia.org/bitstream/handle/11540/7943/Working_Paper_351.pdf?sequence=1
(accessed 2 October 2019).

Further reading
Investopedia (2019), “Demonetization”, available at: www.investopedia.com/terms/d/demonetization.
asp (accessed 2 October 2019).

Appendix 1. Leather manufacturing process

Figure A1

Raw Hides
-Soaking
-Flashing
Pre-Tanning -Unhairing+ Liming
-Batling
-Pickling

Main Tanning

-Chrome Tanning
-Sammying
Wet - Bleu -Borting
-Splitting
-Shaving

Wet- Finishing
-Neutralisation
-Retanning
-Drum Dyeing
Crust -Sammying
-Setting
-Drying

Finishing Operations
-Conditioning
-Staking
Leather -Bufing
-Trimming
-Finishing

Source: Author’s compilation based on inputs from entrepreneurs

VOL. 10 NO. 1 2020 j EMERALD EMERGING MARKETS CASE STUDIES j PAGE 9

 Appendix 2. Chronology of events in Raj’s entrepreneurial journey

Table AI
Age of the entrepreneur
Sl. No. Year at the turn of each event Event

1 1982 20 Raj becomes a bus conductor

2 1983 21 A new career as an electrician in a leather firm
3 1988 26 Worked under MRF company’s management
4 1989 27 Started a leather company with a partner
5 1991 29 Shut down the company owing to a difference with the partner
6 1991 29 Started a new firm with another partner
7 1995 33 The firm was shut down by PCB
8 1996 34 When about to resume operations, the partner departed the firm
9 2001 39 Got a premise and factory to start the leather-processing factory as a sole owner
10 2008 46 Bought the premises of the firm
11 2019 56 The firm is earning a decent return
Source: Author’s compilation based on primary inputs

PAGE 10 j EMERALD EMERGING MARKETS CASE STUDIES j VOL. 10 NO. 1 2020

Appendix 3. Human Development Index (HDI) of various states in India

Table AII
Rank State HDI 1995 HDI 2000 HDI 2005 HDI 2010 HDI 2015 HDI 2018 Increase 1995-2018

1 Kerala 0.562 0.61 0.694 0.732 0.77 0.784 0.222

UT1 Chandigarh 0.607 0.642 0.67 0.658 0.739 0.774 0.167
2 Goa 0.579 0.623 0.684 0.751 0.763 0.764 0.185
UT2 Lakshadweep 0.669 0.711 0.739 0.729 0.738 0.749 0.080
UT3 Delhi 0.63 0.673 0.7 0.718 0.734 0.744 0.114
UT4 Andaman and Nicobar Islands 0.663 0.704 0.732 0.722 0.731 0.742 0.079
UT5 Puducherry 0.694 0.738 0.767 0.756 0.737 0.739 0.045
3 Punjab 0.547 0.582 0.62 0.664 0.706 0.721 0.174
4 Himachal Pradesh 0.557 0.596 0.653 0.675 0.706 0.72 0.163
5 Sikkim 0.515 0.549 0.598 0.643 0.696 0.716 0.201
6 Tamil Nadu 0.507 0.546 0.605 0.655 0.694 0.708 0.201
UT6 Daman and Diu 0.628 0.669 0.695 0.686 0.695 0.706 0.078
7 Haryana 0.515 0.55 0.594 0.639 0.687 0.704 0.189
8 Mizoram 0.532 0.574 0.637 0.694 0.697 0.697 0.165
9 Maharashtra 0.523 0.561 0.607 0.651 0.683 0.695 0.172
10 Manipur 0.525 0.563 0.603 0.691 0.699 0.695 0.170
11 UT Jammu and Kashmir 0.493 0.53 0.591 0.646 0.675 0.684 0.191
12 Karnataka 0.481 0.517 0.567 0.61 0.662 0.682 0.201
13 Uttarakhand 0.594 0.627 0.655 0.643 0.662 0.677 0.083
14 Nagaland 0.491 0.524 0.558 0.666 0.681 0.676 0.185
15 Gujarat 0.489 0.526 0.573 0.608 0.651 0.667 0.178
16 Telangana 0.593 0.628 0.655 0.643 0.651 0.664 0.071
UT7 Dadra and Nagar Haveli 0.645 0.686 0.714 0.704 0.665 0.661 0.016
17 Arunachal Pradesh 0.471 0.501 0.531 0.639 0.661 0.658 0.187
18 Tripura 0.499 0.532 0.561 0.613 0.645 0.655 0.156
19 Meghalaya 0.435 0.47 0.531 0.621 0.648 0.65 0.215
20 Andhra Pradesh 0.443 0.476 0.529 0.581 0.627 0.643 0.200
21 West Bengal 0.474 0.506 0.54 0.576 0.62 0.637 0.163
22 Rajasthan 0.432 0.462 0.505 0.547 0.601 0.621 0.189
23 Assam 0.453 0.486 0.527 0.565 0.593 0.605 0.152
24 Chhattisgarh 0.525 0.555 0.581 0.57 0.586 0.6 0.075
25 Odisha 0.422 0.452 0.489 0.533 0.58 0.597 0.175
26 Madhya Pradesh 0.419 0.45 0.493 0.533 0.577 0.594 0.175
27 Jharkhand 0.557 0.557 0.583 0.572 0.578 0.589 0.032
28 Uttar Pradesh 0.423 0.454 0.496 0.529 0.566 0.583 0.160
29 Bihar 0.401 0.43 0.464 0.511 0.551 0.566 0.165
India 0.46 0.493 0.536 0.581 0.624 0.64 0.180
Note: UT, Union Territory
Source: Global data lab (2018) (https://globaldatalab.org/shdi/shdi/)

Corresponding author
Jaganth G. can be contacted at: [email protected]

VOL. 10 NO. 1 2020 j EMERALD EMERGING MARKETS CASE STUDIES j PAGE 11