Ever wondered why doing business in India is diametrically different from studying business in India. Many people must have realized the difference in scenarios when they passed out from their business schools and started working. The text book just did not teach you enough!

According to Devdutt Pattanaik, Chief Belief Officer at Future Group, although most of our learnings in management come from the west, they do not fit into the Indian scenario since the way of working of an Indian is different from that of the west; he says, “the west works on ‘Binary logic’ and Indians on ‘Fuzzy logic’ ” which translates to Indians having more than the conventional ‘yes’ or ‘no’ for an answer; hence, while in the west, things are “evidence based, measurable, absolute, standardized and certain”, in India they are “also felt, also contextual and also hidden, mostly and perhaps”; this vast different in thinking and ideology makes being a manager in India a whole different ball game than being a manager anywhere else. Work here happens when you know people; knowing people and developing relationships is the fundamental way to move forward.

India is a changing land and with the new growth opportunities and is a very exciting place to be in if one wants to do something new and different. Having said that, one should also keep in mind that there is no one specific way to get things done in India; opinions, behaviors and even language change every 50 kilometers. Thus, as author Phillip Kotler said “Know your customer”, Indian managers should get to know their customers and use that knowledge to build products which conform to the larger Indian audience; not the ten percent which resides in the cities and shops from the malls. The service industry also can benefit from the knowledge of the quirks of a typical Indian and service them better.

Made in India or Made for India. What do you prefer?