We came through the dark archway into the dazzling light, intense heat and spectacular view of the Taj Mahal. Spectacular is such an inadequate word, we should pen a new one. Twenty five people diverse in almost every way but united in our response to the sight. Many of us had spent the previous evening walking through the crowded alley like streets of old Delhi on our way to Karim’s a kebab restaurant in this primarily vegetarian country. We had not yet lost Josh, gotten on the wrong train, had our guide threatened by police, been felled one by one by the stomach warriors of India or fallen in love with the women and especially children of the villages, but we were already fascinated and ready to begin our tour of two countries with our fearless leaders Professor Kevin Kolben and Harsh Dutia. We thank them for sharing this country with us and leading us on this journey to which they dedicated their time and their hearts. - Professor Judy Iskovitz (2010 Course)

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

US Embassy Officials and Genpact

This past Monday we met with U.S. Embassy Officials to discuss Economic and Political Relations with India and later met with Genpact to discuss the BPO industry and how Genpacts was able to be one of the top BPO industries in the world. I was surprised to learn that the US Embassy officials who are tasked to monitor the political situation in India do so by keeping up with politics and other areas that may be of interest to the U.S. and report back to the U.S. on these issues and topics without the Indian government being involved in what they are viewing and reporting to the U.S. I was aso surprised to learn that everything that is done by these officials is mostly to help only the U.S. in their analysis of Indian politics. The political situation monitor mentioned three issues of importance...1. Governance, 2. Corruption, and 3. Internal security threats as big issues in Indian politics. The monitor also stressed how the governement was often run by existing relationships and bribes as opposed to what is really in the best interest of the country and how there was a large disconnect between the states and country. Thee is also a prevalance of non-state elements controlling different parts of the country. We also spoke with an official from the commerce department who briefed us on the challenges U.S. firms faced when trying to enter the Indian market. This part of the governement provides consulting type fee based services and acts an advocacy group for these firms. To enter the Indian market a business requires many contacts within the market to try and overcome some of the contraints and cultural barriers. At times, tarrifs have become an issue and although the U.S. commerce officials can advocate for reducing these tarriffs they sometimes created non-tarriff barriers. The companies that are likely to succeed in entering the India market would be unique, high-tech, high-value, products as opposed to commodity type of products because commodity products often come from countries like China at a much higher cost.
More on Genpact...TBC (My laptop battery is dying and I don't have the right charger!)
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