"With the correct strategy and proper assistance, India can be a very profitable market in the medium and long term"
This year is INDOLINK's 10th Anniversary. For that reason we have interviewed some of our team members to know them a bit better.
Naiara Alonso is consultant at INDOLINK and works mainly from our Bilbao office (Spain). She studied Business Administration in the University of Mondragón and will soon take up another important challenge: being a mother for the first time. We have interviewed her to know her experience about working in India and with INDOLINK.
When did you start working for INDOLINK? And why did you decide to join us?
I joined INDOLINK in May 2008. I already knew Mario (Founder and Director of INDOLINK) and Ravi (partner and Director INDOLINK India) since 2001 when I spent almost a year working as a trainee in Rinder India (Pune). That was the first time I went to India and I must say the experience was really positive and the country captured me with all its good and bad things. After that year I worked in the field of Cooperation for Development in South America and Africa for 6 years. In 2008, due to some funny coincidence I met Mario again and had the chance to join INDOLINK and I did it. I was happy to start working with India once again and with a team that I already knew partly.
How tough is the task of encouraging Spanish companies to invest in India?
It is not easy. In general the economical and financial situation of the companies in Spain is very weak and they need to expand their markets without much investment either on time or money. Besides, India is exaggeratedly perceived as a very complicated country and many companies decide to choose other markets. We try to convey the idea that India is a very interesting potential market that should be taken into account during the strategic planning of the company. With the correct strategy and proper assistance, India can be a very profitable market in the medium and long term.
How is the communication with your Indian colleagues? How does the time-distance and work culture affect your daily work?
Working in a multicultural environment and with different locations separated by thousands of kilometers is both difficult and enriching. Our working/business language is English which is not the mother tongue of any of us (Spanish or Indians), so communication gaps due to that and to the different cultural background are frequent. On the other hand, we have been working together for few years now and we understand each other better and reduce those gaps more and more. Also telecommunication tools such as Skype and many others have immensely contributed to making our world a closer one.
What is the general feeling about Indian market for foreign companies after visiting India for business?
Well, it depends on the individual, really. I’ve seen extremely different and totally opposed reactions after a first visit to India. This shows how differently each person lives and understands the same reality, although India has many realities that are not visible in just one trip. One reaction, that is quite often repeated after the first visit, is that the initial sensation of difficulty is notably reduced in mainly two aspects. One, the fact that you can have a relatively fluent business communication in English (unlike in China or Russia) typically leads to believe that you understand the country and its people. And two, that the company has met a potential Indian partner who promises he will provide them with all the local knowledge they need, making their venture in India smooth and easy. That is generally, for many reasons, a wrong interpretation of reality, that the company usually realizes later on. India is very easy to misinterpret.
What in your experience, have been the major challenges that foreign companies face while entering Indian market?
It depends on the previous experience, activity, sector, etc. but in general the lack of knowledge of the country (its idiosyncrasy, market dynamics, working culture, burocracy). Understanding the Indian business environment takes time and that’s why it’s important to have the proper unbiased assistance from the very beginning and to rely on people that know the country and how it works.
This will reduce the possibility of making initial mistakes which may mean the success or failure of the project in India. That is INDOLINK’s mission: to assist the companies to make the right decisions and to facilitate their successful setup in India. Sometimes that means frankly telling our customer our opinion about their strategy, even if that means not doing any business on our side. Some customers are very surprised with that. Our priority is the successful experience of our customer in India.
Have you seen changes in India since you first came?
Yes, I definitely have. Especially in the urban areas like Mumbai, Pune or Delhi. The construction works of houses, commercial malls, offices and factories have been impressive, like the increase of the land cost shows. The roads and airports have significantly improved as well, even if not enough. I've seen a change in the attitude of the medium-upper class young people too, with less traditional and more globalized tendencies and behaviors. The choice of consumer goods and leisure options has increased a lot too in the cities I know. On the negative part, pollution and traffic are becoming quite unbearable and the extreme poverty doesn’t show signs of decreasing.
One thing I still miss is knowing the rural India. Although I have travelled quite a lot around India during my holidays (Kerala, Ladakh, Rajastan, Sikkim, West Bengal, Himachal Pradesh, Goa, etc.) I have not yet met the real rural India. That is something that I have pending…
Can you recommend us any book or movie about India?
Regarding books... The first one I read about India in 2001 was "Freedom at midnight" and it has always been special to me. It's a good first book to read about India I think. I would definitely recommend Edward Luce's "In Spite of the Gods" to better understand the Indian reality. And one of my favorite novels set in India is "A son of the circus" by John Irving.
I'm not a fan of Bollywood cinema, but I love its dances. I really liked "Slumdog millionaire" even if it shows a hard reality of the indian society.