The Hindu Business Line : `Lack of infrastructure in India a major concern'

THE growth path which India has been treading in the recent past has made global business houses look towards the country very favourably, but the lack of infrastructure is still a concern, according to a group of students from the Graduate School of Business in Florida, who were in the country recently to study its business environment.

The group of 28 students of the business school, a part of the Florida International University, visited companies and Government representatives in Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai to interact with the corporate and bureaucratic heads.

Talking to Business Line, they said there are also apprehensions about policy changes that take place when Governments change. Sometimes these could lead to reversal of policies that adversely impact business initiatives already taken by some companies in India.

The students, who have had manager-level experience in different companies in the United States, believed that India has great advantage in the outsourcing market because of the English- speaking ability and open mindedness of the people. However, they think China scores over India in infrastructure development. They felt India could attract more outsourced work if it improves its infrastructure.

Mr Luis Etchevers, who has worked as Area Sales Manager for Ebara Group of the US, said: "The FDI floating in the globe has to go somewhere. If the business atmosphere improves in India, more FDI will come here." The group also felt that signing more Foreign Trade Agreements between India and other South East Asian countries would help the region to grow faster. Talking of the environmental laws, Mr Mathew J. Millheiser, who has worked for an IT firm in the US said, "They are almost like an afterthought. Nor are they enforced strictly."

To overcome the problem of catering to the varied tastes of the Indian consumers on account of wide ethnicity, the group believed that the sound way for approaching the Indian market would be to first acquire an Indian company and then expand.

"India is in the spotlight because of the rapid GDP growth in the recent past and the more it is able to attract FDI, the faster will be the growth of the nation,'' they said.

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