Chapter 1069: Bharatiya Standards Organisation Provisional Authorisation Act
After the end of the race, the things that transpired were completely out of Pritam’s expectations. After investing over 7 million and having 4 million in hand, which he received from the loans, he was hoping the people he had invited would fill up the rest of the 4 million. But who would have thought the race would be so exciting that everyone decided to invest? Although the amounts were quite unequal, ranging from a few hundred thousand varaha from his friends to the largest, 4 million varaha from the investment firm, and even Rajendra investing a million varaha, he managed to ultimately absorb over 8 million varaha, and these were not empty promises or cheques either, the money was already in his hands.
He had a feeling that if he wanted, he could have asked for more, but he had his own desires and aspirations. If the only thing he wanted was money, he could have simply inherited his family’s business. Instead, he chose to pursue his passion and wanted to see if he could make it a business, and now his dream was only an arm’s length away. Why would he place his dreams in the hands of others only for money? So he decided to maintain a controlling stake in his company and not accept any more investment unless absolutely necessary.
With everything said and done, his personal investment was 11 million, 7 million during the founding of the company and reinvesting 4 million in the current round of financing from the money he got from the loans. He was able to account for 57.89% of the company’s stake and voting rights. The investment firm he had invited, contributing 4 million, became the second-largest shareholder, holding a stake of 21.05%. Rajendra became the third-largest shareholder with his million investment, occupying 5.26%, and finally, the friends he invited and their fathers, four members in total, invested three million, accounting for 4.47%, 3.95%, 3.42%, and 3.95% of the company, giving the company a total valuation of 19 million varaha, 4 million more than he could have ever hoped.
With all the encouragement he had gotten, and with the new ideas that popped up in his mind when he watched the race of Ravindu Silva, he was about to pull up his sleeves and get his hands dirty, but Rajendra said something to him that left him speechless.
" I can connect you with the Minister of Standards. Would you like to speak with him so that the issue of permits and safety protocols can be handled? "
Like always, he had completely forgotten that his friend was not a normal second-generation rich, he was the nephew of the Rajyapathi himself, the Supreme Emperor.
Pritam immediately fell to Rajendra’s feet, hugged his thigh, and thanked him profusely. Rajendra couldn’t help but let out a groan of annoyance. ’Did he not leave this habit even after so many years?’ Back in his college days, he had very few friends because he could tell so many of the people who wanted to hang around him were fake and only there for his status. He realised that Pritam and a few others were different, so he hung out with them. In normal times, he quite enjoyed the company of these friends, but when he tried to do something helpful using his connections, each of them did something that annoyed him quite a bit.
Just like now, Pritam used to hug his thigh and praise him to the high heavens, calling him a great lord, the future king, a god, and all sorts of things. He knew those titles irritated him, yet he would still use them on purpose just to get a reaction. Pritam hugging his thigh now was no different, it was ridicule.
Rajendra couldn’t help but constantly flick his leg as if he was kicking out a piece of dirt that had stuck on it.
Finally, Pritam, having irritated Rajendra enough and reliving his college days, left his leg, and both looked at each other and chuckled in amusement.
" I have been wondering, what do you mean by Formula One? "
" Oh, it’s a name that popped up in my mind at the spur of the moment. "
" Basically, for a car to participate in the race, there are several regulations that have to be met. Although now there are only a few, in the future I’m thinking of adding more to make the game more intense and exciting. These regulations are like formulas, so I got the name there. As for the number, it is simply to represent the number one car racing event of the empire. "
Rajendra was initially skeptical about the name but after hearing the explanation, he felt like he could get used to it.
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Pritam thought it would take weeks or even months to meet the Minister of Standards, Amit Shah, but his buddy’s contacts were so strong that he got to meet the minister as soon as he set foot in Mumbai.
It could be said that he was lucky since Minister Amit Shah had come to Satvahana, but talking with the minister, he received another surprise.
"Mr. Pritam, let’s do it like this. There is really no provision to give you the BSO permits without making sure that the event you are hosting is safe, especially since you say it is a race of cars at high speeds for extended periods of time."
"But at the same time, your event is undoubtedly interesting. I won’t lie and say I’m not interested in it. So let me draw up a bill and present it to the Parliament so that provisional licences could be given to pioneers like you who push the boundaries of innovation."
"If the bill passes through the Parliament, it should allow your company to host the events until we have a complete understanding of how the sport works and what it would require."
Pritam never in a million years would have expected that his wish to get permits would lead to the empire getting a new law, but either way, it was a welcoming development.
For the next week or so, he hosted several agents from the Bharatiya Standards Organisation who took a look at his track and tried their best to understand what the safety concerns were. Pritam naturally did not have the opportunity to host a race, since in essence, the previous race was more of a favour to him than of interest, but he still used his car to illustrate what a car race would look like and explained in as much detail as possible what happened in the previous race.
The agents immediately pointed out several concerns, like clearing the debris on the road at all times, making sure that there were enough medical professionals on the racetrack, and ensuring that there were fast-acting rescue personnel in all parts of the track so that they could reach the driver if something went wrong. They also suggested various safety equipment like metal hats for the drivers.
Pritam groaned, as it would cost him a lot to implement all the conditions, but considering the improvement of safety, he had no choice but to agree. Besides, the investment he had gotten was much more than he imagined, so it should not be a problem financially.
While all this was happening, back in the empire, Minister Amit Shah drafted a new bill called the Bharatiya Standards Organisation Provisional Authorisation Act and presented it in the Parliament.
" Respected ladies and gentlemen of the Parliament, I just realised a huge problem we have in the government, let me tell you what happened a few weeks ago. An entrepreneur came before me seeking a permit and an understanding of the Bharatiya Standards Organisation to host a new kind of racing event that is done using cars."
A few eyebrows were immediately raised.
"I have to say it is a very interesting concept, and the way he described it did indeed make me a little curious, but when I looked into the legal framework the Bharatiya Standards Organisation was using, I came to a realisation that BSO only provides permits in fields that are already established, and it is completely helpless in fields and concepts which have never been brought forward. This is a grave mistake, so realising this, I have brought forward an act called the Bharatiya Standards Organisation Provisional Authorisation Act."
"The purpose of this act is to establish a framework for the Bharatiya Standards Organisation to issue provisional permits to innovators who bring innovation in new fields where there is no precedence, so as to further encourage innovation, research, and the development of new concepts and ideas within the empire, and to not make the BSO a hindrance to innovation."
"This act will give the opportunity for the pioneers to showcase their concept, so that it will give the Bharatiya Standards Organisation ample time to observe, study, and research, so that the standards can be decided for the said concept to make it safe, reasonable, and publicly responsible."
"Thank you, my dear ministers."
The deliberation went on for a long time, especially since this bill will make an amendment to an organisation which, although legislatively is under the control of the government, is executively under the Imperial Council, so the Parliament has to be extra careful.
Thankfully, given that the proposal was quite straightforward, and the act tried to bolster innovation in the empire, which his majesty is quite supportive of, almost all the ministers of the Parliament voted in favour of the bill being passed, and only a few hesitant ministers abstained from voting.
25th August 1688, the Bharatiya Standards Organisation Provisional Authorisation Act was passed in the Parliament and was brought into effect.
Unknown to Pritam, his single coincidental request ended up becoming one of the reasons why new technology continued to appear and was applied to practice at the fastest speeds while maintaining excellent standards that no other entity in the world could reach.