Business Continuity in India: Ensuring the continuity of operations and communication in a remote location such as India is especially important. Redundancy acquires new meaning when doing business in India.
Foreign headquarters are usually separated from India by 5 to 12 time zones which leave little overlap in the workday. Reliable and redundant email and instant messaging are crucial. Frequent communication via voice telephone is a good idea in most cases. Ensure that executives in both locations have the ability to make reliable international calls from land lines and cell phones when they are away from the office.
Be aware of the possibility of natural disasters and calamities in your chosen area of India. The east coast, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and West Bengal are prone to hurricanes (“typhoons”) during the Fall. Heavy rains of the summer monsoon can disrupt operations and transportation in cities such as Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad and others. Northern India is seismically active and high rise construction of the last 20 years has yet to be subject to a magnitude 8 temblor.
Some cities are more prone to strikes and political disruptions. These might be more likely preceding state elections or periods of inflation. The face of global terrorism sometimes strikes major cities including Mumbai, New Delhi and Bangalore. Conflict with Pakistan can disrupt commerce on the northwestern border areas but few foreign companies have operations in locations such as Amritsar, Jammu or Jaisalmer.
With thoughtful planning and regular attention, you can limit your exposure and downtime from any of these circumstances.
We hope that our Doing Business in India Guide will help answer some of the routine questions we get asked. Please Contact Us if you need more in-depth assistance when looking to do business with India. We’ll be glad to help.
Last updated: June 18th, 2021
