The complex and challenging diversity of India has confused many – Indians as well as foreigners have tried and are still trying to understand the market for taking right decisions. But often they have failed. Some learnt their lessons and survived whereas others quit. But no one could sum up common problems or common prospects with sure shot definition of the Indian market and its attributes like most global peers (by definition of a country). Now, here is a book which has tied all aspects about the country together in one thread and very brilliantly put them in mere 200 odd pages. This quick read summarizes the History, Geography, Democratic Politics and Economics of modern Free India along with undivided India/ colonial India(before independence), without compromising on data and the key facts.
The initial chapters in the book focus on an overall status of Indian market – a brief history, success, and failures of foreign companies in India. This is followed by describing the diversity across all possible parameters viz. ethnic, linguistic, regional, religious, cultural, food habits, lifestyle etc. The next few chapters brilliantly summarize the history of foreign attacks and rulers from Gupta Dynasty in 4th Century to the British rule till 1947 (middle of 20th Century) along with foreign business in India since 1292AD. All the East India Companies of different countries for different goods in different Indian territories, debate on acknowledgement of “India” and failure of an American East India Company (yet a successful ice-export to America by ship in 1883) is covered here.
Stating credible and authentic sources, the author boasts of the 35% contribution made by India to the world GDP before the foreign attacks and compares it to the ‘less than 1%’ a decade before the start of the 21st Century. The book compares the golden history with current concerns and struggles for the SMEs in the country providing valid reasons for the change over centuries and suggestions for making a mark again. It talks about how the country directly jumped from being an agrarian economy to the service one, grossly skipping the important manufacturing lessons. The seeds sown by the invaders that made India a supplier of raw materials and importer of finished goods, are still reaping their bitter fruits which has made Indians totally dependent on other countries or their MNCs/companies in India for the manufacturing part. Every eye is now on the results of ‘Make-In-India’ and ‘Atma-Nirbhar-Bharat’. How India makes up for the losses it faced for centuries and gets back its prosperity, which it lost to the greed of others, and self-created mistakes!
The next few chapters provide the reader an exhaustive overview of governance and administration system in India with around 1000 political parties at country level, and the love-hate relationship between the union and state governments, and its implications on businesses. Following these are topics on classification of the country based on wealth inequality, religion, reservations, working, education, native status, region, languages, surnames etc.
An exceptional set of chapters on Social Capital of India and Indian Education System follow next. The author highlights how successful SME with international trade existed even in ancient history. Pluralism based rich heritage was present without existence of slaves or concept of castes. Qualities and actions were given more importance in ancient India, not the family of birth – all these were changed by the British for their selfish motives and ‘divide and rule’ policies; castes were assigned at birth and first caste-based census was reported in 1987. Castes were brought by the Portuguese and the British. Jati
Book Review
(based on knowledge) or Varna (community) is not same as Caste. Caste and Reservations based systems were the main cause for lack of development , disharmony, and social problems like untouchability. The Indian Education System today faces issue of ample knowledge but lacks in skills and trainings, because it has shifted from the Gurukul system and well-developed universities to current faulty Pro-Degree one. This was surely another downgrade by foreign invaders who wanted India to remain a raw-material exporter. Practice based education system was converted to theory based, same education system for all, high tenure in education system of 10+2+3/4 years. The upcoming New Education Policy gets a ray of hope to cater to these drawbacks and revive the ancient Indian entrepreneurial system with new nomenclature.
India’s orientation towards service sector and the problems of agriculture and industries is covered in detail in the following chapters. How ‘thriving SMEs were uprooted and License-Quota-Permit-Raj was imposed’ is discussed. Even after 75 years of independence and multiple changes in industrial policy, manufacturing industry is still not even close to the ancient SMEs. Due to the strong Government control, even now around 2,000 different approvals and permissions are required to start and run a manufacturing business, which need to regularly undergo lot of inspections and regulations.
Business culture, business systems and impact of family system on business is well defined and exhaustively discussed by Dr. Jain. India vs. Bharat debate and India’s Diaspora with Indians who have settled abroad are a decent read. The author does not forget to cover the regular and massive festivals and celebrations and their role in business.Interestingly chapters that follow next highlight on media –(advertising and PR), Jugaad Technology, existence of parallel systems and paradoxes seen in the country which create a base for how things are not as they appear.
The last few chapters talk in detail about India being in transition, the taxation & legal system in India and strategies and tips for a successful India entry. Throughout the book, the author continues to assess the performance and what lacks in the SMEs ,he provides apt suggestions to cater to the later.
A well-researched, well-structured, and well-expressed book of 30 chapters, “The Unique Indian Market: Doing Business in India” is a masterpiece for existing and prospective entrepreneurs and for everyone who intends to understand the country (in fact, the Sub-continent – considering the diversity as the author Dr. Prateek Jain puts it). Dr. Jain has used a varied range of writing flavors – seriousness of facts, jokes with good sense of humor, using anecdotes or simple essaying – keeping the essence intact and effective. Each chapter is complete in itself, yet well connected with the other.
In a nutshell, after the detailed and fact-based analysis, the author convinces the reader how 2020s is the best time to do business in India. Success is guaranteed if the uniqueness of the market is accepted and appreciated, and case specific related action taken. Though targeted with a business in India focus, this book is a must-read book for a traveler, a student or a homemaker!
Hemant G. Golechha is PhD Research Scholar, Dr. Vishwanath Karad’s MIT World Peace University.