India, one of the world's fastest-growing large economies, offers business and investment opportunities across a multitude of sectors. More and more companies around the world are eager to do business in India. This book details the challenges and risks involved as well as providing real suggestions for overcoming them. It begins by providing a background to understanding India and highlights the business environment in which the economic, legal, and cultural variances exist. Potential markets are then discussed, focusing on the sectors, regions, and cities where growth is taking place; the upper, middle, and lower income segments; Indian MNEs; public sector and state-owned companies, and family-owned enterprises. Throughout the book, the author examines the various pitfalls and obstacles that are frequently encountered when operating in India, including political uncertainty and intransigence, corruption, bureaucratic roadblocks, the web of litigation, protecting intellectual property, labor and human resources limitations, and India's ubiquitous second economy. These not only increase risk and lead to costly delays on account of lengthy litigation and payment of bribes, aggravating frustration, but may also result in total loss of investments. The book concludes by providing keys to success, including guidelines for selecting partners and appointing agents, as well as negotiating techniques that work in India. It also includes a comprehensive list of web resources for further exploration, and to connect with government and private sector bodies.
