Gathering Business Intelligence in India: When getting ready to do business in India, Google is not your best friend.
Many companies from India have better web designers than CEOs. And some of the best run companies don’t have competent websites. Trusty paid sources such as Hoover’s and Dun and Bradstreet’s don’t necessarily may not have complete data on your target companies. Public (“listed”) companies are required to file detailed quarterly reports and are regulated by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). You can generally trust their revenue and cost figures but detailed information may not be publicly available.
Consumer demographics information via census data from India is relatively reliable. But robust individual credit histories are not available. Income figures are notoriously understated. Consumption figures can be disproportionately higher when compared to reported gross income numbers.
Data about real estate transactions is generally murky. Comparables are not readily available and listing history data may be quite limited. Many properties are not registered under the seller’s name until a new transaction is ready to be completed.
Many parties in India tend to charge a premium to foreign buyers. Local knowledge and insight can be crucial in reducing or eliminating this premium. For relatively simple transactions, the US Department of Commerce may be able to provide some insights.
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 4th, 2021
