One of the great myths for foreign companies entering India, is that Indians speak English, just like them. The implication is that somehow foreign entrants will be able to perform in India with little adjustment to their good old (American, British, Australian, Canadian) ways.
This myth hurts many executives. First of all, less than 15 percent of the Indian population speaks any English at all. So if you are selling soap, cell phone services, or televisions, you had better speak many of India’s 23 languages. In fact Western Union (which makes more money in India, than almost anywhere else), advertised almost exclusively in local languages.
Second, the segment that does speak English, has their own dialect of “Indian English“. So an Indian may “pre-pone” a meeting, the reverse of postpone. They may refer to an annexure to a document (an appendix or attachment) and they may tell you that they will “revert” when you make a request of them; this means that they will get back to you or will reply to you later.
North India’s leading English Language Paper, the Hindustan Times, just carried a story on my company’s Indian-English Dictionary, entitled How to ‘do the needful’ in India with tashan
Last updated: December 26th, 2025
