Why so many India projects fail – and what this has to do with the service provider
A personal report from 20+ years of experience in India by Dr. Johannes Wamser and why the topic is really on our minds right now.
I’m cleaning up the broken glass again.
Not for the first time. Not for the second time. But for the umpteenth time in the last few months. And each time it’s the same picture: a German medium-sized company that has dared to enter the Indian market full of optimism. Service providers who have done the job – somehow. And then: surprise after surprise. Showstopper. Costs that no one had planned for. Delays that nobody saw coming. Post-budgeting, massive cost increases and frustration.
We’ve seen this hundreds of times before.
The pattern in India market entry that won’t let me go
It always starts the same way: a company wants to go to India. It asks for quotes. And because the services requested – company formation in India, registrations, accounting, recruiting – look comparable on paper, the decision is made in favor of any provider – often the one with the most promises (“no problem, I’ll take care of everything for you”) or the cheapest. That is rational. It’s understandable. That is human.
And in the case of India, a mistake in my view.
Not because cheap is automatically bad. But because a crucial question is never asked in these decisions:
“Who’s thinking?”
Who looks not only at the task that is on the table today – but also at what will follow in three months, a year or five years?
What we find in India projects when we go in
Whenever we go into a company that has already worked with other service providers in India, the picture is frighteningly consistent:
- Incomplete registrations. Regulatory requirements that were half-fulfilled – or not fulfilled at all.
- Missing documentation. Things that were applied for at some point, but never properly completed.
- Decisions without the whole picture. Measures were recommended without thinking about the long-term consequences. The customer therefore made a decision without knowing what they were getting into.
- Vulnerability. And I don’t mean that in the abstract: anyone who has not completed formalities correctly in India makes themselves vulnerable. Not through corruption, but through simple incompleteness. If something is wrong, someone will find out at some point. And then you have a problem.
We always encounter that. Not sometimes. Always.
Showstopper when entering India: avoidable – if you think ahead
I have observed a way of working in India that I call the showstopper principle:
You do something the way you think is right. You only change something when you fail. You work your way from obstacle to obstacle – and only react when the showstopper is already there.
A concrete example: A company wants to import goods. The process is running. Everything seems to be working. Until suddenly a guarantee is requested that has not been deposited. Stop. Everything comes to a standstill. Costs are running up. Nerves are on edge.
Was that foreseeable? Yes. Absolutely. We could have planned for this many weeks in advance – and we did. But the previous service provider didn’t do it. Why? Because he didn’t think ahead. Because he did his job – and nothing more.
Three examples from my India consulting practice that I will never forget
- The employment contract that caused problems for 10 years. For many years, a company had regulated things individually in the employment contract that would have been better placed in a company policy. The result: a decade later, individual discussions with every single employee about numerous clauses and benefits that should actually apply equally to everyone. This led to massive dissatisfaction, negative rumors in the market and a high risk of strikes. A company policy would have prevented this from the outset. No witchcraft. But you would have had to think ahead.
- The recruiting profile that could never work. A company was looking for sales staff for a specific market in India. The profile was clearly defined. The service provider searched – successfully. But searched again two years later. And again five years later. Because the employees in India were so unfaithful. What the service provider didn’t say – or perhaps didn’t even think about – was that they wouldn’t be successful in this segment with the profile they were looking for. The employees came and were either frustrated or were dismissed for failing to meet targets. But the service provider had no incentive to say so. He was paid to search. Every time. Not for thinking.
- The registration that was never completed. Product registrations, environmental impact assessments, social security notifications – the same story everywhere. Half done. Somehow submitted. But never really completed. And nobody followed up. Until someone from the authorities does. Then it gets expensive.
India is not chaos – but it is being turned into chaos
I’m not saying this to bash other service providers. Far be it from me to do that.
I say this because something really concerns me: The image of India that is being created is wrong. And it is damaging.
When a company goes to India and experiences one nasty surprise after another, it draws one conclusion: India is chaotic. India is unplannable. India is dangerous.
That is not true.
India is a complex country with complex regulations – that’s true. But it is not chaos. It is not a coincidence. It’s not an unpredictable system where you just need luck.
It’s a system that you have to know. That you have to respect. And in which you have to think ahead.
Those who do will experience very few nasty surprises in India. Those who don’t – or whose service provider doesn’t – will stumble from showstopper to showstopper and end up saying: India is to blame.
How Dr. Wamser + Batra supports India projects differently
I stand for three things that are non-negotiable for me:
- Transparency. We say what we see – even if it is uncomfortable. Even if it means that a project is more complex than expected.
- Think along. We don’t just look at the task that is on the table today. We ask: What comes next? What are the consequences? What are we overlooking right now?
- Responsibility. If something is wrong, we say so. We point it out. We solve it. Even if we were not commissioned to do so.
Is that extra work? Sometimes yes. Is it more expensive? Not in the long term.
What you should ask your India service provider – my appeal
Don’t just ask your service provider what it costs.
Ask him: What happens if I do that? What is the next step that I don’t see yet? What could catch up with me in six months if we don’t do this right today?
If he can’t answer these questions – or doesn’t want to answer them – or says succinctly “no problem, I’ll sort it out for you” – then you know what you need to know.
India can be planned. India is doable. With the right partner at your side, India can be organized largely free of unpleasant surprises.
This is not advertising. That is my deepest conviction – after more than two decades in this country.
Have you had similar experiences? I look forward to hearing from you – in the comments or directly.
→ Are you planning to enter the Indian market or have you already had a bad experience with a service provider? Talk to us. We take a look at your situation – openly, specifically and pragmatically.
