World Travel Guide

City Guide  - Mumbai  - Business
Business

Business Profile: Delhi is the political and administrative capital of India and Bangalore the centre of the important high-tech industry. However, Mumbai's position as the country's financial capital remains undisputed and the city is also an important centre for many other industries and for foreign trade.
Mumbai's position as the financial capital of India is based on the dominance of its two stock exchanges - the NSE and the smaller BSE - and the power of its banking sector. Together, the two stock exchanges tower above all the other local Indian exchanges in terms of market capitalisation and turnover; while the commercial and retail banking centre is the biggest in India. The service sector attracts nearly half of all incoming foreign investment to the city. Also pre-eminent as a trading centre, pearls and precious and semi-precious stones are by far the largest single category (by value) of both import and export goods handled by Mumbai. Of the other principal industries, the cotton and textile business and machine engineering are probably the most important. The two sectors between them employ a third of the workforce of the city and account for a sixth of the export trade. Perhaps the industry that Mumbai is most famous for, however, is Bollywood, the film industry that is part of a 154-billion-Rupee entertainment industry. The film industry itself is the largest in the world, producing an average of 800-900 films a year, and bringing in 50 billion Rupees; and looks set to expand hugely and increase its global markets.

The importance to Mumbai of her corporate and trading activities is illustrated by the fact that corporation tax in 1997-98 brought in 7786 million Rupees and customs duty another 9075 million Rupees, whereas income tax and other direct taxes raised only 4820 million Rupees in the same period. Mumbai's average per capita income is estimated (for 1997-98) at between Rs42,000 and Rs45,000, which is more than three times the Indian national average of Rs13,193 but still only - at the prevailing rate of exchange - about £675 a year. Unemployment is extremely difficult to calculate. In 1996, there were 710,000 people officially registered as unemployed (which would work out as at least 21%); however, this does not include the many unregistered and is likely to have increased steadily over the last five years.

Most of the important financial institutions are located in the Fort area of the city, near the BSE building and the striking modern tower of the Reserve Bank of India. Well-known multinational industrial companies based in Mumbai include Hindustan Lever, Castrol, Glaxo, Proctor & Gamble and Cadbury. Most international banks have at least some form of representation in the city.

Business Etiquette: For the visiting foreign businessperson, the principal advantage is that English - now well established as the international language of business - is the lingua franca. This is despite, or perhaps because of, the large number of languages that are spoken in India (there are 18 official ones and some 1600 minor ones). Indeed, English is so widely spoken that most meetings will be conducted in it and any lapse into a local tongue should perhaps raise a visitor's suspicion that the speaker is not to be trusted. The business card is an important part of business life in India: some people carry cards that are in effect a compressed CV; many are bilingual. A suit is considered the proper form of business dress in India.
Business entertaining is an integral part of Indian corporate life and potentially fraught with difficulty for the uninitiated. Foreign visitors should remember that Indians will only eat with the right hand, although the left may be used to hold a plate or utensil. An invitation to an Indian home for dinner will be for 2030 to 2130, although many of the guests will not arrive until much later and dinner may not be served until after 2300. However, once dinner is over the party is at an end and the guest may depart without giving offence. Drinking, especially at lunchtime, should be avoided until visitors are certain of their host's opinion on the subject. Even then, alcohol should always be consumed in moderation.



Copyright © 2001 Columbus Publishing
    
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