In 2007, India’s GDP exceeded US $1 trillion for the first time. As one of the fastest growing energy markets in the world today, India is rapidly becoming an interesting business partner for oil and gas companies from overseas. The country has wealth and is ready to spend it on investments in energy infrastructure and technology.

India is also a critical source for petroleum engineering talent for American industry. While interest in the discipline waxes and wanes in the US, the vast pool of college entrants in India assures that a steady supply of students enters this field. Graduates of India’s oil engineering programs at the Indian School of Mines, Institute of Petroleum Technology, and Maharashtra Institute of Technology find ready employment with global entities such as Cairn Energy and Halliburton. In addition, dozens of excellent chemical engineering and mining engineering programs across India continue to provide a further supply of well-trained undergraduate and graduate students.

Western companies that want successful engagement with India today often perceive India as “China 2.0.” That is a mistake. India and China are large, fast growing Asian economies, but that is where the similarity ends.

Cross-cultural success with India requires Western executives to invest time and effort in understanding how to bridge the differences between India and their home country.
Identifying obstacles

Companies must understand the ecosystem in which Indian executives operate.

On the one hand, there are private sector companies like Mumbai-based Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL). RIL is renowned for rapid growth and the consistent ability to complete major projects ahead of time in a culture where delays are common and challenges to maintaining the schedule are widespread.

On the other hand, many large oil entities are public sector undertakings where a significant portion of stock is owned by the government. The Oil and Natural Gas Corp., Indian Oil Ltd., Hindustan Petroleum and others are run as autonomous entities. But in some ways their executives are driven by two kinds of pressure: the corporate imperative to perform and the public trust imperative that their actions are being watched by both government officials and the Indian press.

Next, it is important to understand the role of courts, laws, and contracts in India. Indian and American legal systems are based on the British common law foundation, but this should not give too much comfort to American executives. In the West, contracts are the basis of business relationships, and courts provide a means of resolving differences. Personal relationships based on trust play a more important role than contracts for Indians, who are sometimes taken aback by 400-page western contracts.

Trust takes time, and this often becomes an issue for “impatient” westerners. Many promising relationships fail to achieve their potential because of this gap.

It is also misleading to believe that since Indians are comfortable in English conversation, communication will be easy. In India, spoken English has been substantially ‘Indianized.’ An Indian may refer to a “scheme” (a word that has a negative connation in the West) in the same sense that Americans use “plan” or “project.” And if an Indian asks when you “passed out” of college, he isn’t inquiring about your binge drinking habits as a student; he wants
to know when you graduated.

Managers who have dealt with other Asian countries such as Japan and China must understand not only that India is different, but that it is diverse. India is more like a continent than a country. It is split by language, religion, class, and education, which creates a mosaic of complexity where everyone is a foreigner. The Malayalam speaking Kerala Christian who moves to Bengali-speaking Kolkata and has a Muslim boss faces some of the same challenges as a Houstonian who lands in Delhi to negotiation a deal with Indian Oil Ltd.

Bridging the gaps

The next decade will bring exponentially more opportunities for Western executives to hire and promote young graduates and experienced managers of Indian origin. At the same time, there will be opportunity for Western companies to offer India products and services, including exploration, discovery, drilling, offshore rigs, pipelines, transportation, refining, storage, safety, training, management, and more. Service companies with operations in India will also come calling at your doorstep to help analyze your data, support your backend IT systems, and even program new algorithms. In each of these channels, identifying the challenges of doing business and addressing the differences in a sensitive and timely manner is immensely rewarding.

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