His ceremony proves no Hindu rant to success.

• Position: N.S. Jagannathan of Tolaram Fibers Inc. - People - Brief Article

Folks in Anson County ad quite a laught back in '82 when a Singapore-based company bought a polyester-filament plant that had failed under two previous owners and then assigned an Indian accountant, N.S. Jagannathan, to run it.

Tolaram Fibers was entering a depressed market dominated by a few multinational companies. "It was universally predicted that it wouldn't last a few months," Wadesboro lawyer Pat Taylor says. "This wasn't a business that small companies survive in."

Even Jagannathan didn't think the plant was worth saving. He urged Tolaram's owner, Mohan Vaswani, who owns textile mills in Singapore, Indonesia, England and Nigeria, stuck by his consultant's advice and plowed ahead.

There were more snickers when a Hindu priest dedicated the Ansonville plant with a prayer for prosperity and a ceremony seldom offered hereabouts: He spread a reddish paste on the machinery and broke a coconut on the floor. "I don't understand this, but if it works, I'm gonna get him down to my plant," a veteran Anson textile-mill owner jokingly told Taylor.

There could be a run on coconuts in Anson County. Privately held Tolaram Fibers posted sales exceeding $40 million last year, up from $4 million in '82. Profits aren't disclosed, but things are flush enough that Jagannathan, 50 is considering more than $20 million in capital improvements. The company employs 210 at plants in Ansonville and Asheboro and at its Charlotte headquarters.

"We don't presume to...