Page 63 - Gujar Mal Modi

ried. The economic condition of the mills deteriorated to such an extent that the

managing agents had to agree to forego their commission and the employees,
too, had to accept a cut in their salaries in order to keep the industry going.

An oil mill of Mr. Modi at Rajpura registered heavy losses. In view of the adverse

financial condition of the industries, a meeting of the Board of Directors was
called. Some of the directors were reportedly of the view that if oil did not sell,

Mr. Modi should sell gold and silver in order to cover the risk. However, the gen-
eral opinion at the meeting was that the situation should be watched for some

more time. Luckily, conditions in the market started improving after a few days
and the result was that the losses became less heavy.

Mr. Modi had purchased a big plot of land on Najafgarh Road in Delhi in the year
1945. He wanted to establish one vanaspati unit and one textile unit there. He

had purchased this land at 50 paise per sq. yard, but the market price had now
gone up to Rs. 6 per sq. yard, Mr. Modi sold this land at the market price as also

his oxygen gas plant in order to face the slump. The financial crisis which he had
to face along with other difficulties in 1952 convinced him that it was absolutely

necessary to maintain a reserve fund to ensure industrial stability. All the con-
cerns of Mr. Modi had a smooth run during 1953. The losses sustained during the

previous year were wiped out and some profit was also made.

In 1954 Mr. Modi was elected Member of the Executive Committee of the Feder-
ation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry and was nominated advis-

er to the Consultative Committee of the Railways. He was also elected Financial
Adviser to Roorkee University the same year.

Mr. Modi set up an Oxygen Gas Plant in the year 1954 and also purchased one
tubewell company owned by a British firm. The company had a capital of Rs. 10

million, but Mr. Modi was able to negotiate and purchase it for Rs. 1.2 million. He
handed over the management of the concern to his eldest son in-law Mr. Jayanti

Prasad Agarwal and his brothers who became partners in the firm. In 1955 a big
colony consisting of 360 tenements known as Harmukh Puri was constructed.

On 11th October 1956 Mr. Govind Ballabh Pant visited Modi Nagar to inaugurate

the Modi Silk Factory. It was drizzling when Mr. Pant arrived at Modinagar. But on
the night which followed, there was a heavy downpour and it was estimated that

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