India, today, is one of the two hottest destinations for doing business. In fact this recession has shown the true colors of almost every country that was prospering. Every country except China & India have had negative growth. The growth in India is unparalleled with a near 6% GDP growth despite these testing times.

Hillary Clinton’s visit to India last week paved another path for bilateral ties. Defense deals, new trade agreements, joint ventures to fight climate change etc., are some of the key highlights of discussion during Hilary’s visit to India. Given the mandate that this election has thrown out coupled with Obama’s vision for India, the number of opportunities between India and US will only grow north.

If I were a business man and I had some innovative concepts or planning to expand my current footing, the first thing that I would do is to look at countries like India and China. Assuming I had a few million dollars to plan for a plethora of activities, my first few activities would include doing a survey, understanding the local requirements, hiring a team of experts locally, assigning them responsibilities, setting them targets and working with them to achieve my goals. Easier said than done, right ?

Now lets think practically – How many of us have a few million dollars to spare ? How many of us can afford to go to India often, stay there for a while and establish practically everything from scratch – A handful ?

A difficult proposition considering the effort required to set up your office, infrastructure, team etc., right ? So, what happens when you land in India – How will you be treated ? Will you be cheated ? How are the hotels ? Is everyone transparent enough ? What is your support level ? Who can you contact, in case you need help ? Do you need to take insurance ? How can you trust the doctors there ?

A million questions in your mind and you don’t have your answers. You wish there were answers to all these questions, so you could happily venture out in India without having to worry about individual and organizational credibility. You wish there was a helping hand to walk you through your road to success. You wish there was someone responsible who answered all your queries. You just wished !

Until about a few years ago, these wishes would have been mere wishes, with entrepreneurs and businessmen wading in the dark experimenting with the truth and reality of life in India. But now, things are different, way different than you can imagine.

A company called Entry India has made the life easier for Americans to start business in India. In their own words

Our Mission at Entry India is to Bring India Opportunities and US Businesses Closer.

The First Step towards this is to be aware of the ‘opportunity’. Our opportunity reports are specially designed for small businesses, start-up companies and investors to quickly size up the opportunity and get prepared to seize it. Our personalized approach to collect, organize, validate, and disseminate information is uniquely effective in overcoming entry barriers and ensuring successful outcomes for you.

India is beckoning U.S. companies. Let us take you there.

Entry India has recently completed their Delhi Travel Directory . Whether you are traveling to India for pleasure, business, study or medical care, the best way to ensure a successful and hassle free trip is to be thoroughly prepared for the trip. Delhi Travel Directory covers important information for planning your trip to Delhi and practical personal, business and government contact numbers and information you will need while in Delhi. It is a resource created by Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) for NRIs to make their endeavors in Delhi successful especially when they visit Delhi for personal or business purposes.

Like Delhi, there are plans to come up with Directories for Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Mumbai etc. What more? Each of the associates/address listed in this directory are handpicked and qualified by Entry India LLC. It can’t get better!

Dr. Mahendra Pratap, one of the partners with Entry India, presented ‘Doing Business in India’ at the 14th BMM Convention’s US-India Trade Fair/Expo on July 04th, 2009. Here is a glimpse of the presentation.

Still thinking ?

Popularity: 26%

Immigration issue in America is getting hotter than ever. At a time when the economy needs boosting from all corners – be it technological advancement or the cost cutting measures, the US Congress will dig its own grave if they announce tougher immigration policies which is only one sided. India is going to get affected the most, in one way.

In April 2007, U.S. Senators Chuck Grassley (Republican from IOWA) and Dick Durbin (Democrat from Illinois) introduced “The H-1B and L-1 Visa Fraud and Abuse Prevention Act of 2007″ to overhaul the H-1B and L-1 visa programs to give priority to American workers and crack down on employers who apparently deprived qualified Americans of high-skill jobs.

The Act per se seems to have been formed to unearth the fraud in the system, but it seems to me that this is a ploy towards protectionism. America which once boasted of providing shelter to large scale immigrants who wanted to live the American dream seems to be backtracking. Slowly it is moving away from what it stood for. The repercussions of this could be very detrimental to America and its economy especially with the Indians and Chinese forming the bulk of the H1B and L1 applicants – Perhaps they are not taking into consideration of the facts that

· America’s technology is depended on India in many ways – For example, the banking, insurance, core technology etc depend on highly skilled Indian brainpower

· Indian & Chinese tech brains are responsible for some of the highly successful technological startups in the US

· There are several patents that are filed in America, for which contributions from Indians and Chinese are exemplary

· Indians and Chinese are highly competitive and give absolute value for money and thus helps the American companies to survive outside of America

If America wants to be a global power in the coming years, it has to loosen its strings on these highly sensitive issues. There is no two ways about it.

Consider this – India, as an emerging super power economy and an already acknowledged super power in the world of science and technology are capable of driving changes at a pace that no one can imagine. Given the socio-political changes that are happening in India, “Protectionism in America” regarding the H1B visa & L1 visa holders can actually prove to be a blessing in disguise for India.

I see a ripple effect starting to happen. In the 80s and 90s we discovered that there is a brain drain happening from India and China to the Americas. As a result, the American economy grew by leaps and bounds. With the noose tightened for H1Bs and L1s, there is a high possibility of a reverse brain drain happening from America to India and China

Guess what, this will lead to more entrepreneurship in India and China, there by fuelling these economies and taking the country to even higher levels. That simply would mean, America would be in the lurch for want of intellectual capital.

Protectionism only leads to inefficiencies in the system – This has been proven time and again. If America doesn’t open its eyes to realities, then the growth of China and India is imminent.

Immigration issues in America are a blessing in disguise for India – Do you agree?

Image Credit: Takoma Bibelot

Popularity: 32%

After a long wait, Tata Motors will be commercially launching the Nano car on March 23, 2009.

When the Nano was introduced on January 10, 2008, the world was totally different. The crude price briefly crossed $100 in January 2008 and reached an all time high of $147.27 on July 11, 2008. Given this background, and the fact that the Nano boasted a fuel economy of around 22 Km/L, the world sat up and took notice.

At a price tag of Rs.1 Lakh or roughly $2000, the car aroused huge interest all around. When an alloy wheel in US costs around $2000, it was natural for people in the West to wonder how it is even possible to make a car at that price. Tata was India’s pride and rest-of-the world’s envy. Tata scaled another peak when it acquired the prestigious British brands, Jaguar and Land Rover. Given India’s colonial past, this move by Tata was a big boost for the Indian psyche.

Events then that took a turn for the worst. The global economic conditions deteriorated soon and car sales plummeted. This was more pronounced in the case of luxury brands like Jaguar, and Tata was saddled with loss making brands (The seller of the brands, Ford Motor Co., jettisoned the Jaguar and Land Rover brands to Tata in time and was able to do a lot less badly than its peers in Detroit).

For Tata though, the biggest blow was that it had to abandon the Singur factory site and relocate to Gujarat. In this process, Tata suffered huge losses and learned the costly lesson that Indian politicians care less about the country’s progress and more about their own careers. Moreover, the raw material (steel, energy) costs were shooting up and selling the car at the promised price point did not look like a viable option.

Now, the worst seems to be over for Tata with the announcement of the launch date. There still seems to be a huge interest in the car and it will be interesting to see how customers react to Nano in the changed economic situation.

One thing for sure is that the global car industry is undergoing profound transformation and we may truly be entering an era of small, fuel efficient cars. President Obama of USA has embarked an ambitious program to reduce pollution by making emission standards stricter and supporting research in small cars. In China, the government has cut taxes for small cars and is encouraging a shift away from big cars. This trend is likely to spread all across the world. The truly Indian cars, Nano and Reva, will hopefully benefit from this paradigm shift in the automotive industry. Let us wish Tata Nano success and hope Tata will continue to bring glory to India.

Before I close, here is an interesting article that I read in New York Times. Thomas Friedman, the author of “The World is Flat”, narrated the story of how a couple of Ivy league students from USA went on a 2100 mile trip from Chennai to New Delhi in Reva cars fitted with solar roofs. Friedman uses this journey in Revas to show the bigger picture of how idealistic young people can make a difference in this world, especially energy conservation and environmental protection. He concludes with this powerful statement from one of the students.

“Why did this tour happen?” asked Ringwald. “Why this mad, insane plan to travel across India in a caravan of solar electric cars and jatropha trucks with solar music, art, dance and a potent message for climate solutions? Well … the world needs crazy ideas to change things, because the conventional way of thinking is not working anymore.”

Come to think of it, didn’t Tata Motors do exactly the same thing?

Throwing away the conventional way of thinking, coming up with a crazy idea and changing the very idea of a car by presenting the world an absolutely fantastic car called Nano?

Image Credit: B Balaji

Popularity: 17%

The rise of China and India is a favorite topic among many across the world. While China is way ahead of India in the manufacturing sector, India continues to dominate the IT services industry. There are many who think that China will one day overtake India in the IT services industry too. But skeptics point out that India will continue to be Number 1 in IT as long as China’s English language skills do not reach the level of India’s. As an Indian living in China, here are some of my observations about English in China.

English is rarely used in China outside the metropolitan cities like Shanghai and Beijing. It is extremely difficult for a non-Chinese speaker to get around the country. However, English is very common in Hong Kong, which is a country by itself under the control of the Chinese government. Shanghai is perhaps the most English friendly city in China since it has a long history of engagement with the west. British and French did trading (opium brought from India dominated the trade) here for a long time.

Shanghai has a large international population that includes expats, students, tourists and Western scholars studying Chinese culture. Naturally, there is a big market for English language newspapers and TV channels. There are two English TV channels, CCTV English and International Channel Shanghai (ICS). CCTV is the government’s official TV channel and equivalent to Doordarshan in India.

While these channels are a relief for the foreigners, Chinese who want to learn and improve their English watch these channels in large numbers. For their part, these channels try to cater to this domestic audience. For example, ICS broadcasts the super hit TV serial in USA, Hannah Montana with commentary in English and some Chinese. They also have Chinese subtitles. However, the most popular program is broadcast by CCTV English. The program is called CCTV Cup English speaking contest and has been wildly popular over the last 7 years.

The CCTV Cup has a structure similar to the TV talent shows like American/Indian Idol with college students across the country participating in preliminary rounds in their respective provinces. At the end of a grueling selection process, 23 students get to take part in the final rounds and the eventual winners are selected.

I got a chance to watch final rounds of the 2008 competition and I must say I was quiet impressed with the talent of the participants. These participants displayed great eloquence, fluency and also an excellent understanding of international issues. Overall, their mastery over English was as good as or even better than many Indians who grew up using English. Even though the Chinese have a long way to go, this English speaking contest showed the aspirations of young Chinese college students and the amount of hard work they put in mastering English. I believe that China will definitely give India a run for its money in the IT industry in the next 5-10 years. It will be interesting to see how things play out during this period.

On a related note, I found this interesting article on how Japanese students are using US President Obama’s speeches to learn English. This article confirms my belief that when the British left India, they left behind a great tool called English which we have taken so much for granted.

Read or watch the article here, and enjoy!!!

Image Credit: Baba Steve

Popularity: 14%

Indian sport is on the rise – that is what the eternal optimist thinks taking pride in the face that our cricket team is going gang busters, a lesser known pair together with a significant other won a grand slam and we just closed a historic year when we won 4 medals in the Olympics. Add to the list that Vishwanathan Anand won the world championship of chess and Saina made some rapid progress in badminton and there’s every heart swelling with pride.

Every time an Indian wins anything significant in the world stage, they come back to a hero’s reception. Be it the much talked out T20 celebrations that got Mumbai to a grinding halt or even the under-19 cricket champs that got an already gridlocked Bangalore to a literal freeze, we go to extremes to celebrate these wins. The story is not so different with other sports, albeit, the scale may be significantly different. That said, the celebrations are on overdrive. From State governments offering cash rewards to land and trophies being a given in a situation like this to the neighboring states suddenly waking up to say me too and throwing in a few lakhs of cash as rewards, it all happens. The “celebrity” lives life on the fast lane enjoying the newly acquired status.

While the pomp and celebrations last for a few weeks (sometimes a few months), it dies a slow death and so to, our sportsmen/women. Their rare victory invariably is a flash in the pan and we folks seem to pick the flash up like a shining beacon and make so much ado about it.

When was the last time that someone went on to repeat their so called “ feats” ? I can’t think of one in recent memory. There may be an odd exception that I am missing, but the reality is that we lack consistency when it comes to this.

A classic case is Sania Mirza. Touted as the next best thing that ever happened to Indian tennis, she broke into the top 50. We were gaga over her feat and laid out the red carpet. The sponsors queued up to have her signed; she was the face of “Lotto” and “Head”.

How can one forget the posters that donned the fuel stations of the company that she endorsed ? A couple of years down the line, if you look back at her accomplishments, you will all but draw a blank expression apart from the most recent “luck by chance” win down under. Her recent accomplishment was recognized with a felicitation ceremony by her state Chief Minister with promises of more to come! (I truly wish these are sporting accomplishments)

Is this the way the world celebrates? I pause to wonder…

I happen to be travelling at this time and came across a paper ad in the states – simple one page ad with pictures of the winners, a line detailing the feat, just so that you know, they are talking about a pair of sisters who’ve won nearly 7 grand slam titles together, a pair of brothers who have won 8 and an individual who won 7-8, I don’t recall the exact number. Wow – these are huge accomplishment by any stretch of imagination and guess what the reward is limited to? A one page color print recognition from their friends at the USTA. That is it. I was speaking to a few of my colleagues here and checked if this was indeed the case and they said, “Yes, what more do they want”? I was so glad that he didn’t ask me how we would do it back home. Lucky that I was saved of the embarrassment, I quickly started talking about the weather!

In a country of a billion people, there is a ton of potential. Being one of the world’s largest countries in terms of population, we don’t probably have the awards / medals and whatever else you have to justify being the size that we are. A quick look at neighboring China will give us a huge complex – they truly live to their size.

While there are issues plaguing the infrastructure, the so called bright ones who make it to the top need to master the art of consistency

Winning once in a light year and going over the moon celebrating it is definitely not on!

Image Credit: Bfick

Popularity: 9%

In today’s hyper-competitive workplace, being intelligent and/or working hard alone cannot guarantee career success.  A lot depends on how one conducts himself/herself in the office, how well the person is able to get along with teammates, how effectively he/she can get things done and also the leadership traits displayed.  This is particularly true for managerial roles.

One important factor among these is the personality of a person – extroverted or introverted. Normally, extroverted employees get higher visibility and seem to be more successful than their introverted peers.

Introverts are usually very successful in functional jobs that involve analysis whereas extroverts are good at team based functions. In my previous article about leadership, I had discussed about Jim Collin’s  thoughts about successful leadership styles.

His conclusion was that many of the leaders who achieved sustainable success were introverted. The question is, can introverted professionals become successful leaders?  This is a question the people who consider themselves introverts are concerned about.

According to some studies, about half of the world population is introvert. This number varies from culture to culture. It is considered that people in Western countries (US, Europe) are more extroverted whereas Eastern culture (Japan, China) have people who are more oriented towards introversion. Indians fall somewhere in between.  So, a lot of people in the world are unsure about what to do about their introversion.

Jack Welch, the legendary ex-CEO of GE, was asked the following question.

“My boss recently told me that I am very competent and have a clear vision for my team, but in order to get promoted, I need to show a stronger personality. As a naturally introverted person, what should I do?”

Jack answers that “Big companies are constantly looking for people to move across divisions or around the world, and extroverts, by rights or not, appear more prepared for such opportunities.”

He adds “Indeed, big companies are so tilted towards extroverts that introverts within them often experience a dynamic not unlike the one faced by many women and minorities. They have to constantly overdeliver just to stay even”.

His suggestion to overcome this disadvantage is to “get out there, mix, speak more often, and connect with both your team and others, deploying all the energy and personality you can muster”.

The entire question and answer can be found here

So is the scenario very bleak for introverts? That need not be the case. I had the good fortune of hearing about leadership from Rob Eckert, CEO of, Mattel, Inc . Barbie dolls and Hot Wheels are among the product of Mattel Inc. During the course of his speech, Rob recounted his story of how he progressed in his career. He grew up as a mediocre boy and his personality during youth was anything but flamboyant. It would be safe to say that he was an introvert. In one of his interviews to the press, he mentioned that “no one would have predicted that I’d be a CEO someday”.

But he was highly focused and capitalized on every opportunity that came his way. He turned around the toy-maker which was not faring well where more extroverted leaders failed. He also handled the public outrage against Mattel in the wake of the discovery of poisonous chemicals in toys. extraordinarily well.

During my interaction with him, I found him to be very down-to-earth and very modest.  He exuded a positive, can-do spirit and an ability to motivate people in his own unassuming way. His advice was that if one has the courage in one’s convictions and does not compromise on his/her integrity, success can be very well achieved, no matter one’s personality.

You can read more about Rob Eckert  here

So, all the introverts reading this article – you need not worry. Follow Jack Welch’s and Rob Eckert’s advice and you will get the rewards for you hard work.

Good luck!!

Image Credit: Robert T

Popularity: 22%

Hope is what drives man. If there is no hope there is no life.  But when it comes to stock market it is the greed that drives investors. Though this doesn’t apply to all investors majority of them expect to earn 100 rupees by investing 10 rupees in a short period.  Stock market has become a synonym for greed and off late has become a new bungee rope.

Even if you are cautious while investing, in an integrated world, events in one part of the word  will influence the whole world.  Few clever people turned their shares into cash as soon as the meltdown started and others are now hanging on to some worthy and some useless electronic share certificates.

This decline is not limited to stock market alone but has spread everywhere.  Be it real estate, increasing prices, inflation, liquidity crisis, decreasing jobs…  There is darkness everywhere.

Common man might be thinking that terms like economic slowdown or credit crisis will not affect him. Losses in stock market will not only affect the investors. It will affect the whole economy. If markets are down, capital raising will slow down which in turn effects production of goods and services and standard of living will stay where it is. For example:  Metro Rail project in Hyderabad is not able to raise funds in the market. Economists are predicting a depression similar to that of 1929 ‘Great America Depression’.

But the difference is, in those days economies weren’t integrated and countries weren’t dependent on each other.  But today we can’t look at any countries economy in isolation.  Nokia based in Finland sells more than 50% of it’s mobiles in India and China.  If there is a slowdown in India and China and Nokia exports decline, it will have a major impact on Finland.  Infact , in the current crisis it’s the export oriented nations that are hurt most.  In a way India is protected as most of the goods and services produced are for self consumption.  It’s only the software market which exports services to other countries that has suffered most in terms of loss of business profits and jobs.

One thing that Government, regulators should keep in mind is that we are rapidly opening our economy to outsides increasing the risk of external events affecting us. In 2002, Inida received foreign investment to the tune of 1200 crore dollars while it has gone up to 11,000 crore dollars in 2007. With so much investment coming in, share markets went up and up, real estate boomed. After that we know what happened. 

America sneezed and the rest of the world caught cold.

When markets fall FII’s are the first ones to withdraw money. In the last 2 days alone Europe based funds have sold more than 12,000 crores worth of securities due to the redemption pressures they are facing. How can you explain a decline in SBI stock price when it has announced an increase of 40% in its profits?  FIIs are selling in crores and taking back their investments.  That’s the reason for weakening rupee.  It has almost touched Rs 50 and I will not be surprised if it touches 54-55 in another 6 months.

What should be done?

Government should have foresight.  Our Prime Minister, Finance Minister, Central Bank officials are all economic experts. They should decide on how much foreign investment should be allowed and what should be the level of disclosure or transparency for the money that is coming from outside?

If they had done this earlier today Indian stock markets would not have fallen so much.  Again, I am not against foreign money coming in.  All what I am saying is that there should be a mechanism to avoid hot money that just flows out at the outset of a crisis deepening the crisis further.  I agree that growth rate will slowdown bit but  slow progress is better than a rapid progress and equally or even faster decline.

There should be growth in any economy.  But it should be gradual and not at lightning pace. If the market hasn’t grown so rapidly, common man would not have put his money in it in haste and would have avoided the current blow.

 Government should focus mainly on

1. Inducing some confidence in the system, reducing inflation and strengthing rupee.

2. Strengthing the banking system further so that it will not collapse like the other foreign banks.

3. Growth rate has slipped to 6.5 % from 8.5%. Demand is already reducing. Since private consumption won’t be much, government should spend heavily on infrastructure projects which will propel demand.

4. Should reduce government expenditure wherever possible.

While the pundits have opined that US economic slowdown will continue for another 2 months, it will be a real test for Indian regulators and Government to keep the economy on growth track.

On this occasion of holy Diwali I pray the almighty to lead us from darkness to light

Popularity: 13%