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Sanctions risks, lack of business contacts, difficulties with payments and logistics, as well as cultural differences — such doubts arise among Russian entrepreneurs who are considering entering the Indian market. At the same time, business representatives interviewed by Kommersant FM consider the region one of the most promising and expect additional preferences from the Indian government. Vladimir Putin stated at the Russian-Indian business forum that the countries will increase cooperation and use joint experience in import substitution.
Capital from Russia will be ready to be placed in India only if there are clear political guarantees that the business will remain under Russian management, notes Alexey Petropolsky, Head of the Bureau for the Protection of Entrepreneurs’ Rights of Opora Russia: «Indian business is very well represented in Russia. I know, probably, a dozen entrepreneurs who went to the republic and agreed there on the supply of equipment that traditionally came to us from Europe. This concerns, in particular, pumping units, technological lines for meat processing, light industry and engineering equipment. They became exclusive distributors in Russia and receive phenomenal revenue results. Companies literally in three years occupied niches in which Europeans had previously dominated. It has become both cheaper, and in terms of quality Indian goods are no worse.
As for Russian business in India, the first and, probably, the main nuance is that the legislation on the import of goods from the Russian Federation into the country until today was organized mainly according to the Chinese model. Perhaps now something will change. That is, it was possible to export anything, but to import only what India needs. The rest is subject to increased duties or is not cleared at all. In such a competitive environment, it is extremely difficult to say that goods from Russia can be cheaper than those produced in India. Business has the opportunity to come there and use cheap labor, organize its own production facilities that will produce some kind of international expansion and develop in the republic.»
The specificity of working with India is that you must definitely be there, immerse yourself in the culture of this country. India is a developing, dynamic economy. In general, the growth of the average solvent segment of the population in India is colossal and noticeable. All entrepreneurs note that if a project took off there, it is always colossal growth.»
Even entrepreneurs from the public catering sector are considering the possibility of starting work in India, says Ilya Zomba, Director of International Development at Dodo Pizza: «This is possible if you find a strong local partner with capital, resources, understanding of the segment and how to adapt products and business models to this market. I was in Mumbai, there really must be a very deep adaptation to local requests.
India is also not a mono-market, its states differ greatly from each other. For us, it is very important to choose the right entry point. From the point of view of adaptation, we studied the experience of Domino’s Pizza — our main respected competitor. The Indian market is considered one of the most successful for them. The adaptation of the model is very well developed there: Domino’s Pizza acts in the low-cost segment and is very different from other outlets.»
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi identified opportunities for Russian-Indian cooperation in such areas as fertilizers, ceramics, manufacturing and electronics.
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