How to negotiate with Indian partners: tips for entrepreneurs

Is it difficult to negotiate with partners from India? Are there any unwritten rules to be aware of? We decided to find out about this from business representatives who often have to work with Indians.

1. Indians never refuse

Stanislav Litvinov, CEO of technology platform for affiliate marketing Affise

Indians are very fond of personal communication. Therefore, coming to them for negotiations, stock up on patience and time. If your goal is to sell a product/service/product, never start a conversation with a price. If you tell them right off the bat that your product will cost them, say, $300, it will look like an additional cost to the company in the mind of any Indian. So first show the value your product will bring to them. Reassure them that buying your — Not an expense, but an acquisition. This will immediately turn the direction of the conversation in a more favorable direction for you. Indians know how to evaluate profit, so you need to sell it.

Be prepared for your Indian partners to start haggling. Perhaps this is an integral part of their culture. However, they will not just ask for a discount. They will operate with arguments that they say, “just yesterday we were offered exactly the same product at a price two times lower.”

Probably not. So feel free to divide their counterarguments into two (or even three) and regard it as a game. Whether to make concessions — you decide. However, by agreeing to more or less acceptable terms for both parties, the negotiation time can be significantly reduced.

Another interesting feature: Indians never refuse. Even if you ask them to build a hadron collider by tomorrow, they will still agree. Even if they don't know what it is. Simply because it's ugly to refuse. Therefore, during negotiations, you need to make sure that this is the most "yes" they said not out of politeness, but actually understand what is happening and what is required of them.

2. You will be expected to be punctual

Maxim Osipov, COO of Sense Asia Co

Here are my 10 tips for negotiating with Indian partners.

1. Even though most of India's top-level conversations are now in English, Indians will be pleasantly surprised to hear a few words of Hindi from you, even if you obviously don't speak that language. You can say: "Namaste / Namashkar" at the beginning of the meeting, and, for example, "thank you" replace with "Dhanyavaad/Shukriya".
2. It is considered extremely impolite to cross your legs when you are sitting pointing your toe at the interlocutor. Also, if you accidentally hit an Indian's leg, you must apologize.
3. If you are asked to pass something, especially at the table, it is better to do it with your right hand, as the left is considered unclean.
4. The vast majority of Indians are not punctual, but will expect you to be punctual.
5. If you are hosting an Indian party in your office, you must bring a glass of water (without asking the guest), and also, if it is around 11 am or 5 pm, offer tea.
6. Do not expect 100% confirmation and execution of agreements from the Indian side. Indians, like many Asians, never say straight "no", "impossible", "can't", "I won't". This is considered offensive. If the answer is rather no, then they prefer to say at best "I'll see what I can do for you"; or limited to a vague shake of the head, which can mean: not sure / no / maybe, but most likely not / sorry, but no — and so on.
7. Calls and emails are not an effective means of marketing and communication in India. Calls are not accepted, mail is rarely checked. It is preferable to resolve the issue in a personal meeting and then periodically call and write, seeking the fulfillment of agreements.
8. In India, discrimination based on age, gender and appearance is still strong. At the top-level negotiations you will be perceived better if you: 1 — male, 2 — middle-aged, 3 — expensively dressed, 4 — speak English well. If the issue is resolved at the level of clerks, then the reverse strategy — we send a cleanly dressed, modest, but sociable employee who speaks good Hindi.
9. The business card is supposed to be held out with both hands, slightly leaning towards the interlocutor.
10. Bad English will greatly blur the impression. In the view of the Indians, all people with fair skin automatically own it. Educated top managers and the younger generation of Indians speak excellent English, but with a specific accent. If your English is poor or you don't understand the Indian accent, it's best to have an interpreter present.

3. Indians are very attentive to details

Anton Belyakov, Head of "TECHNONICOL — Asia"

We made the decision to promote in the Indian market under the influence of several factors. Our position in the European markets by that time was already quite strong, we were looking for new countries to enter. South and North America already had a number of business cooperations with the assets we acquired in Europe.

In this regard, the emphasis on a new long-term vector of development was placed on the countries of Asia — China, India, other countries of SEAD. In addition, India — it is the world's third largest economy in terms of GDP after China and the United States, which means a huge market size and great opportunities to promote a wide variety of products. Of course, it is not easy to enter any foreign market. And if we are more or less culturally close with Europeans and business traditions do not differ too much, then in Asian countries the cross-cultural differences in the business environment are significant!

Realizing that the Indian market is very competitive, we initially followed the strategy of minimizing "unnecessary" costs and, first of all, created a team of local specialists.

In Russia, our traditional clients were large developers and contractors. In India, it has proven very difficult to get in touch with contractors who work on large private and public projects. We began to interact with developers of small projects in the field of cottage construction. And the work was done very successfully. One of the reasons — our local sales leaders.

If we talk about the life hacks of negotiating in India, then I would focus on three things.

1. For successful negotiation, prior communication is essential. Indians, like the Chinese, love to know more about their partners — what families they have, what hobbies. At the same time, communication, of course, should be conducted with respect for the culture of the partner country and on fairly neutral topics. It is foolish to try to discuss Indian cinema or mention the stereotype of the low standard of living in India. Do not scold the authorities in your country. Communication should be as correct as possible, but at the same time open and friendly.
2. Indians are extremely meticulous and attentive to detail. Be prepared for the fact that during the negotiations you will discuss every detail of the contract. You need to be savvy in these questions and work out possible answers in advance. This is often surprising to us, we are used to discussing partnerships more broadly. But here the possibility of reaching an agreement on partnership in principle often depends on the details.
3. It is important to pay close attention to post-negotiation activities — business lunches and dinners. It is advisable to know in advance what religion your partners adhere to. Unfortunately, there are often cases when representatives of foreign companies at dinners with Hindu followers order meat dishes, including beef. We all know that Hindus do not eat it, but we do not fully understand how important this is. This is the slip that can jeopardize all multi-round negotiations. If you are not sure about religion, it is better not to risk it and choose some neutral, including vegetarian, dishes.

4. In negotiations, you need to speak quickly

Vitaly Litvinenko, head of the export department at PROMET

India is one of the most attractive markets for exporters. From 2000 to 2017, the country's GDP more than tripled, the pace slowed down only in 2008, but quickly leveled off. It is also worth considering that, according to forecasts, in 2022, India will overtake China and occupy 9.4% of global GDP.

But entering this market is difficult. First of all, due to strong local producers and low labor costs. It is also obvious that it is necessary to be prepared for cultural peculiarities.

Negotiations with Indians — not the same thing as negotiations with the Europeans. Social stratification is very strong in this country, so do not be surprised that they will meet "on clothes" — literally evaluate the prospects for cooperation at the price of your shoes.

So, what else do you need to know in order to have a productive meeting with partners from India?

• You need to speak fast in negotiations, otherwise the Indians will think that you are trying to deceive them, because they themselves speak quickly.
• If an Indian invited you to a restaurant, it means that he is interested in cooperation.
• Indians pay attention to the length of trousers: if they are short, they conclude that you are not serious.
• They may trick you into coming with an expensive rental car to make a positive impression.
• Many Indians do not cut the brand tag from the sleeve of their suit (in order to show their colleagues their status). On the other hand, despite the fact that they attach importance to external manifestations, they have a very strong local culture — at a business lunch, they will most likely eat with their hands. This point concerns Indians who are not accustomed to cooperating with Europeans.

Nevertheless, you should try to enter this market, it is large and very attractive. The ideal option would be to enter the Indian market through local partners.

5. Get ready to reschedule business meetings

Alexander Zadorozhny, International Business Development Manager, Digit

In India, Russian IT products are treated the same way as European or American ones. There are practically no problems with communication, since everyone speaks English, although you will need to get used to the accent.

If you are looking for resellers in India, then for successful negotiation it is important to prepare in advance the most complete package of partner materials with detailed presentations, product demos, videos (this is especially appreciated), case studies, on-site training program and the like. It is important to show a potential partner that you are ready to spend not only your time to immerse him in the product, but also resources: for example, marketing in the region, in particular, organizing events.

Companies in India are very similar in their work model to companies in Russia: people can work 24/7, so there are no problems with time difference, you can safely schedule a call for both 11 pm and 8 am. In some regions of India, there are problems with the Internet: for example, we tried to remotely connect the product, but there were nuances related to the download speed.

I can also note that there are many holidays in India, so you need to be prepared for the fact that meetings and other business events will have to be rescheduled from time to time. It is also important to note the fact that it is extremely important for end customers in India to have local partners. With any direct contact, we are asked for their list.

If we compare the markets of China and Brazil with India, then the latter is the easiest way to communicate remotely. At the same time, despite the fact that the degree of loyalty of Indian partners is always quite high, it still needs to be backed up with actions. You need to invest as much as possible in the development of relationships. For example, in our case, partners asked to provide free equipment for several weeks to demonstrate the product to end customers, as well as post information about the partner status on the website until all legal procedures were completed. In response, Indian partners will be ready to share their real client base and organize meetings with potential buyers.