In the office of the small paint factory he helps run, Pramod Patel is clear on the problem holding back India's manufacturing growth: cash, or a lack of it.
Clients, he said, are taking months to pay, sometimes 150 days as compared to the standard 30, choking up businesses like his "Reliable Paints" and hampering the creation of much-needed jobs.
"We have a lot of potential in our business, but we have no confidence in the payments," Patel said. The workers around him prepare paint to be decanted by hand into cream and grey coloured cans.
While there is no comprehensive data for the cash cycle of India's manufacturing industry, manufacturers interviewed in the industrial heartland of Gujarat have said that cash is moving at a glacial pace.
They reported that clients delaying payments, sometimes for the best part of a year, is evidence of an uneven recovery and of India's credit drought as banks tackle $100 billion of troubled loans.
Central bank data shows that loans to medium-sized industrial companies were down 10% by mid September, compared to the start of the financial year in April. Loans to small companies dropped more than 3% in the period.
Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi and former Chief Minister of Gujarat, India, has sought to improve life for manufacturers. He wants to boost a sector that accounts for under one-fifth of the economy, compared to one-third for China -- the world's largest manufacturer.
But, the reality on the ground is tough.
Even India's industrial bellwether, Larsen & Toubro, has reported deterioration. Chief Financial Officer R Shankar Raman has said that payments take around 100 days after they fall due, compared to a standard 60-75 days.
That is hovering around the longest payment period in over a decade, he added.
"MADE IN INDIA"
India badly needs manufacturing to fuel its recovery and create jobs. After all, India will be home to a working age population of 900 million people by 2020, roughly one-fifth of the world's potential workers.
Modi's government has promised to make it simpler to operate in the country, with plans for a unified bankruptcy code, a unified goods and service tax, and more flexible labour laws. Last week, it lifted restrictions on foreign investment in 15 sectors, including defence.
But, this part of Gujarat -- a state that was ranked top in a World Bank-supported study on the ease of doing business in India's 29 states -- manufacturers have said that the smallest and weakest among them could be pushed to the wall, unless reform is implemented and recovery arrives swiftly.
A plethora of different taxes still wrap small firms like "Reliable Paints" in red tape. Others have reported battling outdated factory rules: some are fined for a lack of spittoons, for example, in areas where spitting on the floor is forbidden.
There are signs of hope. L&T's Raman said that he expects the numbers to hit the bottom, provided promised government spending kicks in and banks pass on lower rates.
"The way the recovery is structured right now, it is not broad based," said economist Sonal Varma at Nomura. However, government spending could improve cash flows even for smaller firms within 6 to 12 months, she estimated.
Gujarat, for one, has pushed taxes online, cutting down on the paperwork and opportunities for corruption, and manufacturers have said that that had made processes smoother.
But, until reforms come in, the bureaucracy is overhauled and real spending starts, factory managers in this baked corner of Gujarat - where paints, pumps and engineering parts dominate production – have said that their clients will continue to struggle.
