It’s been a challenging year since Dmitry Shukov has taken over as the CEO of Sistema’s Indian operations. The 45-year-old Russian citizen is probably the youngest CEO of a telecom company in India. He speaks to Business Line on his experience of working in India.

What were your initial thoughts about working in India?

India is an incredible country. It has been a new experience for me. I was pleasantly surprised to see the huge country with big population.

The other thing is that there is hyper-competition in this market. I have not seen any country with 14 telecom operators in one circle.

My first reaction was – how can we work in this market? I spent one year to understand how it works. First six months were very tough. I have 20 years’ experience in telecom across different countries, but I have never seen anything like this.

What are the big concerns for you?

The regulator should be better in terms of taking quick decisions.

For example, on issues related to spectrum – like sharing, auctioning, trading— these things are a matter of routine in countries such as Russia. But in India, the regulation is yet to stabilise.

This is a serious barrier for foreign players to make investments. India has everything required to make it big in telecom, but the regulator needs to be in line with market requirement.

Is governance an issue?

I refrain from commenting on governance. But a lot of things can be implemented faster and better. There are professional people in TRAI and DoT, but they need to be faster in decision-making in my personal view.

What about infrastructure bottlenecks?

India is quite affordable for living, but traffic can be an issue sometimes. But in general, I don’t see any major infrastructure bottlenecks.

How is it to work with partners in India?

In my point of view, Indian partners are good entrepreneurs.

People are very motivated to do business.

Out of 10, how much would do you give India as a destination for doing business?

I would give 11 in terms of market.

But in terms of regulation, I will give below 5. The market is perfect, but decisions needs to be faster

What do you find the most interesting in India?

I find Indian people amazing.

They are full of emotions, they are open for discussions. I find Indians enthusiastic and optimistic.

Despite all challenges, people here believe that tomorrow will be better than today.

Have you had the chance to travel around the country?

I am very lucky in that sense because I can combine with business with touristic ventures.

We have operations in nine circles, so I do travel a lot.

This is part of a series on expat CEOs working in India

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