India: An ‘Asian behemoth’
India is warm and welcoming, amazing in its colours and people diversity. Several Indian engineering and management schools are ranked among the best in the world. Savvy Indians make their presence felt globally as political and business leaders, while overseas Indian communities are astoundingly successful and contribute to western society.
Yet, India itself remains baffling for Westerners, and can be a game of snakes & ladders or even cat & mouse.
A terrain dramatically unlike western markets, the local Indian business environment remains steeped in peculiar cultural complexities, layered by communities within communities’, decision-making bureaucracy, and intricate geographically diverse behaviours. Despite highly educated, dynamic and English-speaking local partners and employees, progress for western companies can feel a long time coming.
For every successful business plan, five linger for years with success “just around the corner”.
India may be an opportunity, but only for those who can transcend their ‘western mindset’ and recognize local Indian realities. In this, we can help and we are sector neutral.
