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Tech Trek to India, days 5-6 - ‘Goodbye to Mumbai’

John Yates

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Editor’s note: John Yates, Morris, Manning & Martin, LLP partner and an internationally recognized technology attorney, is in India this week on a “tech trek” looking to generate business opportunities for the Atlanta and southeast technology sector. He is posting blog and video entries at TechDrawl. The law firm has offices in Atlanta, Raleigh-Durham, Savannah and Washington, D.C. Local Tech Wire will be following Yates’ trip and posting Yates’ observations and news.

MUMBAI, India - The past few days have presented a series of contrasts — lunch at the Cricket Club of India (CCI) with Indian attorneys, drinks at the Wellington Club with an Indian technology leader, and business meetings in Nariman Point (the Wall Street of India).

To get to these lovely places, we fought traffic and the hustle and bustle of life on the streets of Mumbai. The good news is that Indian business can peacefully coexist — and even grow — in this contrasting world. Today, we successfully scheduled most of our meetings at the hotel. You learn quickly that it’s important to have your guests come to you — rather than fighting traffic to go to them.

Here are some other practical tips for the technology executive doing business in India:

• Most of our guests were fashionably late (10-15 minutes) — the reason is almost always traffic (see the video from Day 1 if you forgot how bad the traffic is — and stop complaining about Atlanta congestion!)

• Where possible, travel with a business companion – my law partner, Jason D’Cruz (Chair of our IndUS Group) and I were constantly moving in and out of meetings as we received calls and e-mails with changes to meetings as a result of the busy schedules of our guests. We suggest renting a private car with a local driver who knows where he is going – the cost is very reasonable.

• If you use a cab or motorized rickshaw, make sure you know where you’re going (some of the drivers speak poor English — and your Hindi is probably not that good!).

• Have money available for tips — 100 Rupees is approx. $2.00. This is a generous tip in most situations.

• Have plenty of business cards and be professional in your business card exchange (it’s not as formal as with the Japanese or Chinese, but avoid the informal “card flip” so common in the States).

• Be ready to drink (non-alcoholic) at every meeting — if you are a guest of a business executive, you will be offered a drink.

• We suggest ordering Diet Coke — no bacteria known to mankind can live in the carbonation of that can and you will be supporting an Atlanta company. One other pointer — drink your Diet Coke out of the can, have the can brought to your table, open it yourself, and NO ICE.

Tomorrow we’re in Delhi and the Leela Kempinski, one of India’s newest and nicest hotels (where the ITechLaw conference is being held).

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