Top business tips

Really simple - a few things you may find useful, when doing business in India.

The most important one: there are no Indian stereotypes - only the continent of Africa exceeds the linguistic, cultural and genetic diversity of India - so respect the diversity and individuality in your interactions.

Instead of assuming, just inquire; Indians love to talk and will be happy to explain anything and everthing that you may want to know! The other four are:

1. Be familiar with the official Map of India as India sees it - not the CNN version! (if you visit us you can see one in our office). National borders a very emotional and sensitive subject and it may pay to grasp the Indian perspective. Here it is: (source)

2. Get a local mobile number and a sim card with "Lifetime Validity" - that way you will always have the number with you and can even put it on your business card. You will talk (a lot!) and using local services will save you a fortune. You can also get broadband via your mobile phone, which means your connectivity is not dependent on where you are - saving on hotel costs. Isn't that great?

3. Learn to translate lakhs (or  lacs) and crores (krores) into your currency and US dollars real faasst! For example 1 crore Indian Rupees roughly equals US$250,000.

4. Learn common Indian english expressions. There are lots of resources on the web - we like this one as starter. Another avenue is to join Orkut and hang out there - it is considered the most popular global social networking site with Indians - the bonus may be that you make some social connections as well :-)

We publish a monthly e-mail newsletter (India Insighter) where we summarise the key business happenings using our network in India and you can subscribe to this using the form on the top right of this website or contact us at any time.