Cash Flow Opportunity in India

Generating cash flow for companies includes expanding into areas of opportunity while negotiating the inherent risks.

India presents an opportunity for many U.S.-based companies large and small across a variety of industries including telecomm, alternative energy, aerospace, and the auto industries. During the next 15-20 years, projections state that up to 40% of families in India will move into a middle class lifestyle.

India is also a young country with 71% of the people younger than age 35.

Those figures were quoted by Julie Anne Hennessy, director, U.S. Commercial Service in Los Angeles County speaking at the India Trade Conference held today in Irwindale, California at the Southern California Edison (SCE) CTAC Conference Center.

The 2nd annual conference was sponsored by SCE, Quanta Consulting and the Port of Los Angeles.

Pictured are: Jim MacLellan, Director of Trade Services Port of Los Angeles; Daphe Ng Southern California Edison; R Sampath, Quanta Consulting; Gene Rodrigues, Southern California Edison.

The gathering gave a macro-view of reasons to enter the India market while offering an overview of tapping into relational networks to create successful business strategies.

Conference moderator R Sampath, Quanta Consulting, Inc., said companies should definitely look at the opportunity that's offered by the vast India market, improved infrastructure, and the rising level of education.

"But there are also risks," he said. "Part of the cost of doing business in India is its going to take time of the executives to map out a strategy and make the needed contacts to plug into the right networks."

The focus of the morning keynote addresses and afternoon break-out sessions was to help companies begin the process of discovering how to get started in doing business in India and how to generate revenue.

The costs and risks can be worthwhile. While China is the world's 2nd largest economy in terms of purchasing power, India is the world's 4th largest economy.

Commerce Minister Banashri Bose Harrison, Minister of Commerce, from the Indian Embassy in Washington, D.C. told attendees that India is a natural partner for U.S. companies.

“There is a degree of comfort level people in the U.S. feel when they go to India,” she said. “They feel at home and one of the reasons why is that English is so widely spoken and since both countries are democracies there is a shared value.”

She remarked that in developing innovative technology, India is a perfect place since testing is less expensive making the country a good R&D partner.

Information on doing business in India is available through the following sources:

Quanta Consulting, Inc.

“Crafting Your India Strategy”

The US Commercial Service, U.S. Department of Commerce

http://www.export.gov/india/

http://www.buyusa.gov/india/en/

The third annual conference is scheduled for June 2010 in Cerritos, CA.

Additional, upcoming posts from the June 26, 2009 conference on doing business in India to generate cash flow will focus on brand building, cultural differences and key challenges facing business ventures.