India offers many opportunities for those who are brave enough to take risk and smart enough to avoid the pitfalls.

Following are the excerpts about outsourcing to India from the new book “Doing Business in India & Understanding Pitfalls” authored by Subodh Gupta.

Banking services in India

The Banking system is fairly efficient in India, particularly in the private banks like Standard Charted, HDFC, etc compared to that in the UK.

Retail Sector

India is considered as one of the most attractive retail market in the world now, which at the moment is dominated by unorganized domestic players.

Organised retail, which accounts for $12.4 billion only in year 2006 which is 4.6 % of the $ 270 billion Indian retail sector, is expected to grow at 37 % in 2007 and 42 % in 2008. ⁴²

On the parameter of ease of doing business, India rank at 120^th place out of 178 world economy, well below Vietnam 91, Bangladesh 107, Nigeria 108, Nepal 111 and China 83.

Another issue for the retail sector is that this 10 - 12 million consumer of high income group is not located in the small pocket of India but all over India which is as large as Europe so distribution is another issue because country infrastructure is almost bleeding.

Myth about 300 million middle class Indians Purchasing power

Marriage 

Preparation for marriages in India takes place at least six months in advance. This is the time when all the families and friends are invited and gather together. Small marriage parties can have a gathering of about 200 to 300 people, and big marriage parties in India can have a gathering of thousands.

Reasons why Indians spend so much on their children:

Where do Indian people spend most of their life savings?

There are six main areas where Indians (middle income group) spend most of their income & life savings in the following order:

What do you think is the best motivator for most people in a country like India, a country which is considered a land of spirituality?