Understanding the Indian Psyche

Some subjects are apparently too delicate to be discussed as a table-top conversation. But we aren’t sitting on a table-top in India when doing business. The only way to conduct successful business in India is by forging strong relationships. And these have nothing to do with a perfect contract or a sure-fire business model. These aspects creep in much later. The way to do business in India is to understand the unique Indian psyche which plays a main role. Confused? Let me explain with a simple example.
Bathroom etiquette. A simple part of life that sees a practice in India that is distinctly different from the west. Hand faucets are a part of most Indian households; a modernized version of the old mug and the bucket practice. But walk into a 5 star hotel and there is a looming absence of this facility which forms a core of every Indian’s bathroom practice. So the question that pop’s into one’s mind is, ‘Whose benefit is this for?’ Certainly not for the Indians’ who have to adapt to the Western practice of ‘normal’ bathroom etiquette. So is the ‘dignified’ toilet roll laid out in all its glory so as to not shock and knock the Western perspective out of their comfort zone? Or are the Indians who visit these places ‘too posh’ to follow their age-old habits? To be sure the target groups kept in mind by these establishments were not the Indian crowd.
Take an international flight from or to India for example. Toilets; The long drawn out flights to far-off places offer quite a funny situation with all due respect. Walk into one and you are immediately presented with a situation on how best to not trip and fall with all the puddles of water seen everywhere. Why not just have a hand-faucet fixed instead of forcing the Indian crowd to come up with ingenious methods of cleaning?
When one looks around their life in India, culture is a predominant value seen in all walks of life; how people drink water off a bottle, how they take off their shoes before entering a house, how forks and knives are gradually put aside well into a meal and the fingers take a role. The list can go on. Recently, a foreign company dealing with bathroom accessories, made an entry into the Indian market. Their insight into understanding such intrinsic values of Indian behavior worked well for them. They incorporated their understanding of Indian preferences into their seemingly western designs with a true desi application. The result? A business model that can work in India.
So the moral of the story for business people looking to do business in India is very simple. Understand the group you are doing business with. Put away all that is familiar and comfortable with you and open your minds to the unique Indian psyche. As a market, India is great for business with Indians always on the lookout for foreign products. But this needs to fit into their cultural habits and the trick is to find that fine line between a product and embedding it with the Indian way of functioning. What’s your story?