Building a brand in India: What foreign companies need to do

I was recently interviewed by  “Change Agent” as part of an article on Marketing/Selling consumer goods in India and what foreign companies must do. This is a subject that my company and think about a lot.  Many American and European companies try to repeat their China or Brazil strategy in India and are surprised when it fails. Others give up on India, saying “I‘ll Never Do It Again.”

Here is an excerpt from the article, written by Justine Doody.

“Retail sales in India were worth US$455 billion in 2008, making up 38% of the country’s GDP, which leaves plenty of room for growth when compared with developed markets, and that growth is well under way: in spite of recession troubles in 2008, the retail market grew by an annual average of 11.4% valued in US dollars between 2004 and 2008.

The people responsible for this boom are a new breed in India. Liberalisation of India’s economy in 1991 gave rise to the economic success story that the world has marvelled at – and as the economy grew, a new middle class grew up alongside. The Indian middle class has more than tripled in size in the last 20 years… ”

To read the rest of the article,

Click here or here.

(As first published the article contains a slight error in my quote. Titan is a an India brand, owned by Tata, not an American brand. I have requested a correction).

Gunjan Bagla
California-based management consultant Gunjan Bagla runs Amritt, a consulting firm helping American companies to succeed in India. He is author of Business in 21st Century India: How to Profit Today from Tomorrow’s Most Exciting Market (Hachette Book Group, July 2008).

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