Theo Paphitis travels to India, to see if three intrepid British companies can succeed in one of the fastest-expanding economies in the world.
With cultural ties going back centuries, India and Britain have many things in common. But is doing business one of them? Or are we worlds apart?
Theo travels to Mumbai (with its 14 million population), and Central India to see how three very different British companies, with three very different products, try to make their dreams a reality.
![Marmite on toast [Image: Kent Fredric under CC-BY-SA licence]](/openlearn/files/ole/imported/13752/marmite_catland.jpg)
KentFredric via Flickr
Love spreads? Marmite on toast [Image: Kent Fredric under CC-BY-SA licence]
The companies
There’s luxury watch manufacturer Bremont, whose stainless steel watches cost up to six thousand pounds a pop.
Regenatec, a company trying to find enough green oil to sell their diesel converter kit in the biggest diesel market in the world.
And Marmite, the classic British breakfast spread. Will the Indians love it or hate it?
All three companies have got their work cut out.
How will Bremont’s very expensive, highly-engineered but very understated stainless steel watches go down in a country which likes its watches to be made of gold?
How will Marmite sell a very British product to a country that’s hardly short of strong flavours of its own?
And how easy will Regenatec find it to locate large volumes of ethically-produced pure plant oil, so as to take on dirty diesel, in a country whose biofuel industry is still in its infancy?
And if they can get past their specific challenges, there are wider difficulties to overcome.
With its fiendishly complicated import duties, its very different bargaining culture and its sheer size, doing business in India is going to be anything but straightforward for our British companies.
What sort of pitfalls will trip them up when they’re trying to do business in a very different culture?
Doing business in India
India’s economy is one of the fastest expanding in the world, with a rapidly expanding consumer class. The UK has strong ties with India, and UK companies are well positioned to take advantage of this growing export and investment market.
Read more about India at UKTI, including a High Growth Market factsheet or alternatively, a UKIBC report, "Opportunities for UK Plc in Emerging Cities of India" is available.
Thinking of taking your business idea to India? Before you do anything, explore our videos where Theo and experts from The Open University Business School offer advice on business overseas.
Talk to UKTI for a UK government perspective.
And visit the website of the Indian High Commission in London to read their advice on how to Invest in India.
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Comments on: "India"
garytantony has started a thread discussing India.
The business adventure in India will always be a big risk. I have been living here for almost 35 Years and I`m an Englishman living in this vast and fast city of Mumbai. I was watching a part of that programme where they are asking people to try Marmite sandwiches, and people turned their nose`s up at the product. I can tell you this, India has many products like this and in different forms as well, i remember when i was a child in London and eating Marmite and it was great, but the tastes buds here differ from UK. i don`t think this is a product which will sell, `why ? 1, the product will only sell to the middle upper class, and lower class will not be able to afford the product. 2, India is not a country of sandwich eaters they are a nation Dabbar Walla`s ( home cooked food) which the general office goer takes for their lunch. Well, in my Apinion you are trying sell fish to a fisherman. but best of luck anyway.