MUMBAI: In August-September last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi concluded an important visit to Japan . He met Japanse Prime Minister Shinzo Abe , top officials of the Japanese government and prominent business leaders and pitched for investments into India. Media reports from the visit said that Japanese businessmen were interested and impressed though few concrete commitments were made.One businessman, however, was disappointed. Keiichi Igarashi , president of Igarashi Electric Works, did not attend the meeting between Modi and the businessmen, but heard enough about it to make him rue a missed opportunity.In 2010, Igarashi had sold its stake in Chennai-based Igarashi Motors to a local auto component player, HBL Power Systems. The turmoil following the Lehman Brothers collapse and the global financial crisis left many global companies battered and the tiny producer of motors that drive your cars was no exception. American private equity giant Blackstone later bought the stake from HBL becoming the owner of Igarashi Motors India Ltd (IMIL).After hearing Modi’s pitch for ‘Make in India’, Igarashi felt that he had a made a mistake in selling out. He did not have a choice at that time. But he is determined to make amends now as the business conditions have vastly improved. A quick conversation with IMIL’s CEO and 33 per cent shareholder Mukund Padmanabhan clarified matters further."Modi was talking about many things like exports and women empowerment that IMIL was already doing," Keiichi Igarashi told ET in an exclusive interview.About 90 per cent of employees at IMIL’s Chennai factories are women and the firm is a big exporter. Igarashi said the Modi-Abe friendship was an important factor and that he did not need any other reasons.In a few days from now, Igarashi will announce the purchase of Blackstone’s stake in IMIL. The private equity arm of Tata Capital will invest about $33 million to become a partner. Investment banking firm MAPE Advisory Group will invest $9.4 million for a small stake.But the deal almost did not happen for a number of reasons, the most important of which was the attitude of the seller. Blackstone baulked at a transaction only two years after purchase. No private equity firm will sell in two years, Igarashi was told. He demanded a price and was told that Blackstone is a seller at $106 million, double of what it paid to buy out HBL in 2013. Igarashi later said that the price did not bother him but raising the money was another issue altogether. A consortium of Japanese banks lent him $60 million and MAPE, who was his advisor, agreed to invest with him. Tata Capital later joined the ranks.IMIL shares ended 0.61 per cent up at Rs 659.25 valuing the firm at about Rs 2,000 crore. IMIL makes DC motors and motor sub assemblies for global auto industry, according to a presentation seen by ET. It claims a 35 per cent global market share in electronic throttle control motors used widely in the auto industry. Its revenue grew 10.3 per cent to Rs 675.8 crore in the financial year 2014-15 and operating margin expanded to 18.4 per cent from 17.6 per cent in the previous year. Profit margin rose to 9.4 per cent from 8.2 per cent in March 14.The Modi government ’s reform efforts so far may not have moved the needle much in terms of local investment and Japanese-style bullet trains may be a long time away. But one small Japanese businessman is not willing to wait to invest in India.