Archive for the 'Business (India)' Category
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about a substandard service provided by an Indian bank; the bank basically did whatever it could do to delay my remittance so that it could hold my money for a period of time and utilize it to run its business. The service was a substandard, but I wouldn’t call it evil or criminal. However, unfortunately, I just experienced a terrible service provided by a different Indian company. To be perfectly fair, probably the vast majority of those who work for the company are good people; however, the service that the company provided to me was terrible. It can potentially be considered to be “criminal” because the company essentially attempted to steal my money. Now, I do not say that all Indian companies provide terrible services all the time; on the contrary, I find that they provide very good services in many instances. However, I have never experienced the kind of substandard service that I am about to describe here; it is an example of how terrible Indian companies’ services can be sometimes.
I use Airtel Broadband & Telephone Services to get my phone and internet connections. I received a bill about a month ago; it has the invoice date Jan. 27th and I paid for it on Feb. 3rd; however, Airtel simply disconnected the phone and the internet on Feb. 27th, 2007 claiming that I had not made the payment. It was clearly an Airtel’s mistake; Airtel just misplaced my payment, its record or both. I don’t know how it can happen, but it happened; I had to spend a lot of time and effort to get my services back. It was very unreasonable and I have to call it a “harassment”.
While I use services and I pay for these services, I get some help from my friend/my company’s director to use these services because using services can become tricky to foreigners (i.e., non-Indians); he is an Indian person and he can take care of various problems if they arise (and they did). So, from here on, I describe what happened as an event that “we”, he and I, experienced rather than just “I” alone experienced.
We received our statement for Airtel Broadband & Telephone Services a couple of days after Jan. 27th, 2007. We went to Laxmi Nagar Airtel collection center at E-62. Vikas Marg, Laxmi Nagar, Delhi. We made the payment of Rs. 1,243 in cash. However, the collection center was unable to give us a receipt for the payment because the collection center was out of papers. Airtel is a major Telco in India, so I don’t know how something like than can happen, but it happened. A receptionist at the collection center informed us that she would take care of what needed to be taken care of so that the payment record would be made properly. She also wrote down a note on our statement for Airtel Broadband & Telephone Services, stamped and signed so that we would have a written record (Who knew that we would actually have to use it later?).
We assumed that the receptionist at Laxmi Nagar Airtel collection center would take care of what needed to be taken care of; however, we found that the phone service was disconnected in the morning of Feb. 27th. We immediately contacted Airtel customer support, but they were unable to resolve the problem. Airtel eventually asked us to go to Laxmi Nagar Airtel collection center to take care of the problem on our own because Airtel was unable to resolve it on its side. We already spent a lot of time speaking to Airtel customer support representatives at this point.
We stopped at Laxmi Nagar Airtel collection center upon Airtel’s request. We only found out that the receptionist who received the payment or any other person at the collection center did not do what needed to be taken care of; Airtel did not have a proper record of our payment. We even spoke to the manager at the Laxmi Nagar Airtel collection center, but they only posted the record of the payment which we made a month ago. We finally received a receipt for the payment also.
From here on, I describe what happened as an event that only “I” experienced. My friend/my company’s directory and I parted at this point because we had things to do and we assumed that the problem was over.
I assumed that this, stopping at Laxmi Nagar Airtel collection center, demanding a receipt and what have you, finally took care of the problem, but there was yet another unpleasant surprise. I checked the phone and the internet connections after I came back from Laxmi Nagar Airtel collection center to my office, and I only found that both the phone and the internet were still disconnected. At this point, I contacted Airtel customer support once again over the phone.
There was still more mismanagement of Airtel to be observed to my great unpleasant surprise. I spoke to a customer support representative and I explained the situation and demanded to connect the phone and the internet as soon as possible; I also requested to speak to his manager because this was an urgent matter and I needed to speak to a person who has more power and authority to get the problem resolved immediately. He told me that he’d transfer me to the manager, but he just hanged up. I could not simply wait until the problem gets resolved magically, so I called Airtel customer support again, speak to a representative and requested to speak to his manager. Amazingly, the second customer support representative also hanged up on me after he told me (or lied to me) that he would transfer me to his manager. I called Airtel customer support for the third time, and I was cursing this time; I demanded to get the phone and the internet connections back at least; this third customer representative told me that Airtel just connected my services back. I dislike cursing very much, but this actually made some difference in this particular instance.
I assumed that I had the phone connected and the internet connected at this point. Stunningly, I only got my phone connected; the internet was still disconnected. I contacted the internet customer support representative assigned to us to get the connection back.
The internet customer support representative assigned to us is actually a pretty reliable person, and he resolved many problems for me in the past; however, interestingly, he did not show up after two and a half hours. When I called him, he told me that he would come to my office in an hour, so I expected that I would need to wait for an hour, but I did not expect that I would need to wait for over two hours. I got the connection back eventually and I no longer needed his assistance, so I just called him and told him that he would no longer need to come to my office.
I want to emphasize that the vast majority of Indian people are good people and the vast majority of those working for Airtel are (probably) good people; however, what happened was just crazy. I used different phone services, cell phone services and internet services over the years; it is true that some (US) companies provided me substandard services. But no company pretended that it did not receive my money after I actually made a payment. Many Americans accuse Telcos and cable companies of stealing from customers; I don’t disagree with them. However, I know that they don’t steal money outright; Airtel did. Airtel essentially attempted to steal my money outright. It didn’t happen not because Airtel stopped doing evil but my friend/my company’s director and I fought hard.
Written by J. Watanabe
India, Business (India) | 27.02.2007 6:03 | 1 Comment
Indian people generally assume that they speak and write in British English, but there are inherent differences between Indian (British) English and British English. It actually takes a little while for one to recognize this, but Indian (British) English is a distinct version of English.
A couple of weeks ago, I was contacted by a businessman in UK. He runs an internet business and he creates a number of content websites to run advertisement on; his business generates a handsome income from this. He started taking on a new project several weeks ago, and he plans to set up close to one hundred websites over time. Given the size of the project, it will cost him a fair amount of money to pay for copywriters to create the content for these websites. He knew that I have some contacts in India as I operate in India (my US company has a whole subsidiary in India) and he and I assumed that Indian people speak and write in British English. He apparently spent a fair amount of time looking for copywriters on the internet, and I also worked with a couple of people to get ready to become copywriters; I tried to provide a copywriting service to him. After we spent a couple of weeks respectively, we came to conclude that there are inherent differences between Indian (British) English and British English and that it is actually a big challenge for one to train Indian people to become copywriters if their writing needs to read just like native British English speakers (or writers).
This businessman in UK read Indian copywriters’ profiles, picked ones who had good profiles and chatted online to find out more about them. Though a fair number of Indian copywriters write well, he found that their writing looks funny. I actually went farther, sat with a couple of Indian people and spent time together to go over this particular copywriting work. I found that Indian English’s spellings and grammar are compatible with British English, and it was exactly what I was looking for. However, I also found a couple of subtle differences between Indian English and British English. Since I was trained in American English, it was not easy to observe Indian English’s whole language structure and British English’s whole language structure, compare the two and find differences, but I did find clear differences. For example, Indian people used words found in British English yet British people do not commonly use. Brinjal is a very popular vegetable in India and Indian people call it “brinjal”; the word is an English word, and it should probably be considered to be a British English word (Brinjal is called “eggplant” in American English). However, British people actually call the same vegetable “aubergine.” There is nothing incorrect about using the word “brinjal”, but if a sentence uses the word “brinjal” instead of “aubergine”, it does not exactly sound British.
This businessman in UK continued looking for Indian copywriters; he found competent copywriters, but he could not find (Indian) copywriters who write like British. While I knew that he was having a difficulty finding Indian copywriters, I found one Indian copywriter who, I can honestly say, is one of the best in India; he has a Master’s degree and he spends a fair amount of time reading publications in English everyday. He has solid language skills in English. I asked him to create a sample for us and I sent it to the man in UK, and he and I had a chat online to discuss about the potential future collaboration with regard to this work. I was fairly confident about my Indian copywriter’s language skills, but the man in UK decided to not use his service or any other Indian copywriter’s service. He actually read articles written about Indian English and he learned that Indian English is actually a distinct version of English, although its spellings and grammar are compatible with British English. He shared the knowledge with me, and there was not much I could say after that. While I am not a linguistics scholar, I personally observed that Indian English has its own flavor. Also I imagine how difficult it would be for me to write just like British people; it would be very difficult and I guessed that it would take a lot of training for me to do that. My guess is that all Indian copywriters need a lot of training also if they are required to write like British people. At this point, we basically decided that my Indian copywriter is not going to provide his service to the man in UK. I have to admit that I felt a bit disappointed, but it was a logical decision not only for the man in UK but also for me and my contractor.
There are actually a number of publications on the subject of differences between British English and Indian (British) English, so I do not repeat scholastic aspects of the subject; I am here to tell my personal experience. I find that a fair number of Indian people have very solid language skills in English. Also given the fact that the today’s education system in India puts so much emphasis on English, it is fair to guess that Indian people, in particular, those who are educated, are going to have much stronger language skills in English. However, the fact remains that there are inherent differences between Indian (British) English and British English. One takes some training to become a good copywriter, but one Indian person takes even more training to become a good copywriter for British if he/she is required to write just like British people.
Written by J. Watanabe
India, Business (India), Business (US and International) | 24.02.2007 9:15 | 11 Comments
If you are in one of developed countries and if you tell your friends that you are going to start a business, most of them would tell you to think twice. This is because most new businesses in developed countries would fail within the first three to five years, and this is supported by statistics. India has a very poor infrastructure and also its political and economical environment is not as stable as that in developed countries; therefore, your intuition tells you that even more new businesses would fail in India. However, the situation is quite the opposite; most of new businesses manage to survive in India. It is rather surprising, but if you look at various aspects of the business operation, you would logically conclude that new businesses in India are much more likely to survive than new businesses in developed countries.
One of characteristics of new businesses in India is that they start with very small capitals or none whatsoever. New businesses spend what they can spend to start; in other words, they have very little or no debt at the beginning. Since there is very little or no debt, new businesses have no obligation to make payments to any lenders; this dramatically increases their chances of survival. On the contrary, new businesses in developed countries often take huge debts to start. It is partly necessary but it is also partly a common practice, although new businesses do not necessarily follow the common practice. For example, it is very common for new businesses to heavily invest in new pieces of office furniture, while they are totally unnecessary in most cases.
As I look at individual businesses in India closely, I find that many businesses in India have very low operating costs. I see used computers everywhere. I see old furniture everywhere. Most offices do not spend a whole of money to make them look pretty. Most offices do not spend money for decorations. For example, a friend of mine (in India) runs a printing business; the business produces customized business cards, letterheads, envelops, calendars and booklets. Its office has no landline phone; it has no computer. The office only has bare necessities. This obviously keeps the business’ operation cost very low. On the other hand, many new businesses in developed countries keep their operating costs much higher than necessary. For example, a friend of mine in US used to run a business from his apartment; it was a small business, yet he had a number of equipments, each of which cost thousands of dollars. He had a couple of cell phones, a couple of laptops and a couple of desktop computers. The operating cost was a lot higher than necessary. (He went out of business and the high operation cost was one of reasons.)
Family structure in India is very strong, and this is quite helpful for new businesses. It is difficult for new businesses to find trustworthy people who can help them; it is even more difficult for them to find free help. Since family structure in India is very strong, they can get help from their family members in many cases. Family members help other family members’ new businesses for free even. This is not exactly the case in developed countries. Family structure is relatively weak, and it is very difficult to get help from family members.
While the political and economical environment in India is not as stable as that in developed countries, there is actually one political advantage. Rules and regulations in India are relaxed when it comes to providing protections and benefits to employees; also licensing costs and other regulatory compliance costs are very low. This makes the recurring cost very low, and this increases new businesses’ chances of survival. While many of developed countries offer very generous social programs, they also put heavy burdens on businesses such as the financial burden of providing protections and benefits to employees. This raises the recurring cost, and this makes new businesses to survive even more difficult.
While we cannot easily change laws, rules and regulations, we can lower our operating costs. We can also start new businesses using whatever money we have instead of borrowing heavily. We can definitely learn quite a few things by observing business practices in India.
Edit: This article was written by J. Watanabe
India, Business (India) | 20.02.2007 1:38 | No Comments
Many of those in developed countries fear that emerging economies like India and China would take over the leadership in the world economy in foreseeable future. You can spend hours, days, weeks or even months discussing why this can possibly happen, but the simple fact is that the vast majority of people in emerging economies work hard and honestly and they try to get something out of their hard work. I have been in India for the last couple of months and I have seen how people work. It is a bit of exaggeration to say that most people in developed countries do not work hard or honestly, but too many people work in such a way that they do not exactly contribute to the development of their economies.
First, too many people in developed countries do nothing; they do not work. I am personally for social programs such as tax-funded healthcare and tax-funded education, but the simple fact is that too many people rely on those social programs and do not work; furthermore, social programs in some countries are too generous. For example, UK has some of the most generous social programs and its government just hands out cash to too many people; the government does not hand out just enough cash for people to survive but it hands out more than enough to them so that they can even entertain themselves.
Second, too many people in developed countries force them to feel content while they work for good hours. Not everyone has to have ambition to become a billionaire, nor does becoming a billionaire automatically contribute to the development of the society. However, when people work for good hours, they ought to understand that they deserve certain results financially. It is true that money is not everything. It is also true that being able to find meaning and value in life is very important. However, it is almost a trend to speak of such meaning and value in developed countries today; they focus too much on finding meaning and value, and they start neglecting the fact that they ought to get financial and materialistic results. There ought to be a good balance. Philosophy is very important, but that alone does not contribute to the development of their economies.
Third, too many people in developed countries essentially achieve their financial gain by stealing from others. One of examples is corporate executives’ terminating employee pensions, liquidating what employees already contributed and telling analysts and shareholders that they increased profit. This is not wealth creation; this is wealth extraction. Another example is that those who run businesses while they destroy the environment; this is also not wealth creation, but it is wealth extraction. These practices do not contribute to the development of their economies ultimately, but they only stifle their economies in the long run.
I exaggerated a little bit and wrote that too many people in developed countries either do nothing, force them to feel content while they actually live unfulfilled life or steal from others, but this is not entirely false. The way in which people in developed countries go to work is different from the way in which people in emerging economies go to work. The former go to work to wait for tomorrow while the latter go to work to create something; they go to work to improve their life. There is a tremendous difference between the two, and one obviously does not lead to prosperity, while the other leads to prosperity and creation of wealth.
Edit: The article is written by J. Watanabe.
Ideology, Politics, India, Business (India) | 19.02.2007 8:44 | No Comments
Business environment in India is a bit different from the business environment in many developed countries; India has a boutique business environment. More specifically, procedures to get various administrative tasks done aren’t exactly straight forward. They are arbitrary and a lot of human communication can get involved; bribing is one of examples. Understanding the environment itself takes time, and actually maneuvering in the environment is quite difficult. It’s unlikely that those from foreign countries can smoothly get administrative tasks done. Furthermore, while I’d risk saying that most Indian people are honest and hardworking, it is easy for foreigners to get tricked by some bad apples; they might not be scammed and have a lot of money stolen, but they can easily overpay for various services. For this reason, it is advisable that you hire a reliable street smart to assist you to run a business in India.
Having a dependable accountant and a banker is essential in India even if you run a small business, and you need a street smart to find a dependable accountant and a banker for you. When you run a business in any country, it is ideal that you have a dependable accountant and a banker; however, this is very critical in India, while having a dependable accountant and a banker is not absolutely necessary to run a business in a developed country. To describe briefly, accounting and banking are more complex in India than accounting and banking in many developed countries; one of reasons is corruption. Corruption is everywhere, so this makes accounting and banking very confusing and tricky, and thus, you definitely need to get help from a dependable accountant and a banker.
Corruption is everywhere, that is, bribing is everywhere, and you need a street smart to pass bribes for you. Every single administrative task requires you to pass a bribe to the public official who takes care of it. Also passing small gifts is not an uncommon practice; this often enables you to get administrative tasks done much faster and without a lot of hassle. The problem, however, is not bribing or passing gifts as far as you are concerned; the fact that you do not know exactly when or how to pass bribes or pass gifts is the problem. This is when you need a street smart.
There are emergencies and they are bound to happen, and this is arguably the most important reason why you need a street smart to assist you. For example, you might become very sick, and you need to see a good doctor to get well. A certain financial transaction might not be going through for variety of reasons, but you might have to get it done somehow. You might need to create a couple of documents from thin air to get a certain administrative task done. There are many emergencies, and creativity is often required to get through emergencies, and you need a street smart who can help you with his/her creativity.
I emphasize that most Indian people are honest and hardworking; also India’s economy is growing rapidly and there are a lot of great business opportunities. However, that doesn’t change the fact that the business environment in India can become quite difficult for those from developed countries to maneuver around. It is essential for them to learn as much as they can, but I highly doubt if they can learn to maneuver around in the complex business environment in India; even if they can learn, they need a lot of time to learn. You need to get things done regardless in business. For this reason, get a street smart when you run a business in India.
Edit: This article is written by J. Watanabe
India, Business (India) | 15.02.2007 7:39 | No Comments
Money2India is an online wire transfer service to transfer funds from countries outside of India to India. It is supposed to enable you to make the wire transfer much more easily and conveniently, but in reality, it has so many problems; the wire transfer doesn’t go through for variety of reasons in many cases. If your wire transfer simply fails, then you can possibly use a different service, but Money2India often debits your sender’s bank account and then fails to credit the receiver’s bank account. In this case, Money2India simply keeps your money, so you have to do whatever you can to make it credit your receiver’s bank account. It is a battle, and you have to fight hard, but here are some tips and tricks to win the battle.
First, the phone customer support is quite unfriendly. The number that Money2India has on its website, 1800 22 4848, only works for BSNL, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. carriers. If you are not a BSNL Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. carrier, then you are stuck. But there is a workaround, though it is a bit lengthy.
1. Call the ICICI phone customer support. Check this page (http://www.icicibank.com/pfsuser/customer/cuscarenos.htm) and find the local number that you can call from your area.
2. Speak to a customer support representative and tells him/her that you want to contact the Money2India phone support; if he/she tells you that he/she does not have any information about Money2India, then request to speak with his/her manager. Ask the manager the same thing; you ask him/her to connect you to the Money2India phone customer support. You should be able to connect to the Money2India phone customer support.
Second, Money2India’s online account has the email feature to let you contact Money2India support via email, but this often does not work well. Many emails sent via Money2India’s online account get lost quite often. You should just use your registered email with Money2India and email to nri@icicibank.com directly.
Third, you should contact the banker that you opened your bank account with if you opened the account with ICICI. Also you should contact the branch manager of the branch at which you opened the bank account. As far as you are concerned, Money2India is a service that ICICI provides and those who work for ICICI should assist you to resolve any problems that you have with Money2India.
When I used Money2India, I thought that this would make my life easier, but it was not exactly the case. My guess is that many people have variety of problems using the service. I hope that this short article would help those of you using Money2India.
India, Business (India) | 11.02.2007 5:52 | No Comments
First, I want to state that India has a lot to offer as a country. There are also number of great people. I’d risk to say that the vast majority of Indian people are honest and hardworking. However, business environment in India is still under development. That is an undisputable fact, and there are number of problems. The followings are some of problems of running a business in India.
Banking sector has a couple of problems. To be more specific, those who work in the banking sector are not exactly a problem. My guess is that most of them are honest and hardworking; they’re probably also quite talented, intelligent and capable. However, there are too many formalities and procedures than necessary. For example, it took nearly two weeks for me to open a bank account in India, while I opened the account at India’s premier bank, ICICI. There are a couple of reasons why it took weeks, but it is unusually a long time to open a bank account. I opened several bank accounts, including a business bank account, in US over the years, but it only took one day to open a bank account each time. I have been trying to transfer a fund from my US business account to the new bank account in India for the last weeks, but the transaction has not been completed yet; this also exemplified problems of the banking sector.
There is mañana mentality not in the sense that everyone is playing and partying everyday and not getting things done but in the sense that things do not get done on time. For example, I essentially delegated several administrative tasks to a couple of Indian people; they are very capable but they don’t always get things done on time. One time, I asked me to get me a door bell for my flat (apartment) to one of them because it was very difficult for me to get this done since I did not speak Hindi; I probably asked this over a month ago. I still do not have the door bell. I know him pretty well and I know that he has a very hectic schedule; however, a month is a long time for anyone to get a door bell. This particular task is nothing urgent, so I am not upset about it, but something like this happens often.
Lack of the basic infrastructure stands out. Electricity problem is very visible. Electricity goes off a couple of times a day on average even during winter, while Indian people use less electricity during winter than during any other season. Using UPS, you can prevent data loss, but if you run a kind of business that requires you to use electricity the whole time that you work such as web development, you have zero productivity when electricity is off. Water supply problem is there, though it is not severe; most businesses, specifically businesses in the service sector, do not suffer from the problem because they typically do not use water to run their businesses, but it can become a minor problem. Internet connection works for the most part, but the connection gets cut off occasionally. This can result in the loss of productivity also.
Most problems can be managed, and as a matter of fact, I am running an internet business in India. However, problems described here are recognizable and they do affect. Those of you who plan to set up an operation in India should remember these problems. Chances are these problems will be there for some time.
Edit: The article is written by J. Watanabe.
India, Business (India) | 9.02.2007 5:32 | No Comments
Business environment in India is still under development; as a result, it takes a long time and a lot of effort to get things done in India. I am currently trying to wire transfer a fund from a US bank account to an Indian bank account using Money2India, which is a serviced provided by India’s premier bank, ICICI; however, the transaction has been taking roughly two weeks. I am hoping that I can complete the transaction in a couple of days, but there is really no guarantee. Difficulty I am having highlights the fact that business environment in India is still under development.
I initially contacted Money2India customer support to resolve the problem one week after I started the wire transfer. I actually contacted the customer support several times; however, nothing got resolved essentially. Also a different person corresponded each time, so whoever corresponded back to me did not understand the history of the problem, nor did he/she understand how exactly he/she could resolve the problem.
I needed to contact a real person whom I could speak directly or meet face-to-face, so I called the toll free number. It did not go through, so I tried the chat program to contact Money2India customer support real time. The customer support told me that there was nothing he/she could do. I don’t know why such a person who could not do anything to resolve the problem answered me. At least I found out that the chat room was no use.
The person that I had a chat with asked me to call the toll free number, so I called the number again, but it did not go through. After all, it’s the same number that I tried calling already, so there was no reason why the call would go through this time. I was not so sure why my call could not go through, so I called my carrier, Airtel to find out why. It turned out that the number was only available to those who used the carrier BSNL, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. I use AirTel, so even though I have landline, I cannot make use of the toll free number.
I had to do something about this, so I reluctantly called the branch manager of the branch at which I opened my bank account; I did reluctantly because this was not something that I should bother senior bankers like branch managers. However, I needed to get this solved, so I called. He told me that he was busy and told me to call again.
When I say “Money2India, This Semi-Scam Service”, I don’t exactly mean what it means. However, the fact of the matter is that the bank that provides Money2India service has been holding my money for over a week. Also I find it very difficult to move the money to my bank account in India from what I experienced so far. Observing the situation, I almost feel like that Money2India has been holding my money against my will. Furthermore, the difficulty and various specific events which I have been experiencing to resolve the problem highlight the fact that business environment in India is still under development.
India, Business (India) | 9.02.2007 4:32 | 11 Comments
Business environment in India is changing dramatically, and changes in New Delhi (and Delhi) highlights that change. I’ve been in India for the last two months, and those changes are actually visible so that it is almost scary.
India started its economic reform back in 1991, and a lot of changes have been taking place since then. This has been not only taking place at the national level but it’s been also taking place at the local level.
India was like a developed country a couple of hundreds years ago. People started running small businesses while they lived in same buildings. Some got charters from their government, but others did not; as a matter of fact, only a minority of businessmen got charters. However, at one point, developed countries cleaned this up. I don’t think that you can just start a business without obtaining any license or permit in any developed country today (technically speaking). India is basically going through this clean up process right now.
Transformation in Delhi is one of examples. Delhi government is trying to speed up this transformation and has basically drawn a line between the residential use and the commercial use of real estate properties. So, if you happen to live in a residential area and run a business, your business is forced to shut down; you need to relocate your business or you need to find other means to earn income. Obviously, most businessmen and businesswomen find this too forceful and illegitimate; this is possibly illegal also; they are actually fighting against the government in the court right now; the Supreme Court has not given any definitive answer. Though the court might strike balance this time, the transformation is going to take place in near future.
There is another thing that the government is trying to do. The government is trying to ban hawkers from cooking their street food on the pavements of New Delhi. Street food really is a part of the scenery of New Delhi, and the change that the government is trying to make is a dramatic one. This particular initiative is partly motivated by a part of the plan to beautify the city, but this is also motivated by a part of the plan to clean up the business environment.
I personally find that laws and regulations that Indian government is trying to implement are a bit forceful; some are even a bit draconian. However, there is absolutely no doubt that India is going through a tremendous change, and the country has a very dynamic environment today. On one hand, it is rather anxious to see those changes, but, on the other hand, it is quite exciting.
India, Business (India) | 7.02.2007 10:42 | No Comments
US Banks provide very poor customer service, while they basically do anything to take as much money from customers. My guess is that banks around the world are more or less like that, and I find that India is no exception in this regard. Here’s an example.
I recently opened a bank account with ICICI, India’s premier bank. Shortly after the bank account was open, I transferred a certain amount of money from a US bank account to this new bank account using the service called Money2India; Money2India is a service offered by ICICI. Money2India uses a slightly lower Indian Rupee exchange rate when it transfers money while it claims that Money2India provides free service. This is obviously a lie, but this is an understandable lie. There is no free lunch anywhere. However, ICICI does something a little more subtle yet atrocious in order to generate as much profit as it can.
I started transferring money last Sunday; according to my Money2India online account, money has been credited to my bank account in India. However, the bank account still has the same balance as that of last week. US bank account has been debited, so money is somewhere, but it’s certainly not in US; it’s not transferred to the bank account in India, either. Where is it? Well, the answer is (probably) ICICI headquarter. ICICI headquarter has taken money from my US bank account and has been holding it. In essence, ICICI has been borrowing money without my permission or paying any interest.
Money should be transferred to my bank account in India early next week; however, the fact still remains; ICICI has been borrowing money without my permission or paying any interest. This is essentially how the bank manages to keep so much money in its pocket while its actual reserve is much smaller.
I want to make it clear that most of those who work at banks are probably honest people (or I sincerely hope that they are). Also those who work at the branch that I opened the new bank account are good people. However, the bank is monstrous as an institution. I am quite certain that borrowing my money without my permission or paying any interest is really nothing compared to many other things that the bank does. The bank probably goes very far to generate profit. All banks around the world are like that probably.
Politics, India, Business (India) | 4.02.2007 0:20 | No Comments