Discovering India…

Hi KV’ites,

I thought about writing this article to share my experience about living in India. I have been in Pune for about 4 months of the last 6 with an occasional weekend trip to Mumbai.

I came to Pune to setup my office and have been involved with a lot of people from day one – company secretary office for my company registration, real estate agents while looking for office space, lawyers for contract and document reviews, CA firm’s for taxation and payroll related help, interiors/furniture people for office furniture, telecom providers for broadband and telephone connections, bankers for bank accounts and ofcourse the daily encounters with drivers, rickshawalla’s, restaurant boys, security personnel etc… I can safely say that I have come across a broad spectrum of people over my last 4 months. I have to admit that I have had not much encounter with the law (police) and medical (hospitals) personnel other than our one encounter where Yash had to be rushed to a hospital in Mumbai after an accident back in May.

I have visited India almost once every year over my last 12+ years stay in the US but the change that I have seen over the last 2 years has been mind-boggling. People in general are much more positive, enthusiastic and RICH. Ofcourse this goes without saying that the gap between the have’s and the have not’s is growing but if anyone is ready to work there is an opportunity. Real estate prices have double or tripled in the last 2 years alone and are almost at levels where they have started to become unaffordable to common people. This along with the 10-13% interest rates on mortgages scares the heck out of people. Even some employees looking to join me have talked at length about how 40 to 50% of their income goes towards mortgage payments.

Services – while there seems to have been significant improvements in services of all kinds it still has a long way to go. Banking sector – especially local banks could use some help here. I have dealt with a local bank and an international bank and you definitely feel the difference. If you can afford “priority banking” kinds of accounts its worth going for those where there is a personal banker working with you rather than you dealing with local authorities. Broadband services have taken off like crazy with companies running out of “ports” to give out. It seems like the demand is far exceeding the supply and companies are trying to cope up with this increased demand. Airtel, Reliance, BSNL and Airtel are some providers in Pune that seem to be doing well with services ranging from good to worse. But don’t expect to get a broadband connection in a day or even a few days – plan for a week or two and be surprised when you get it sooner. The other thing is that you have be after these people and this is true for all services rather than they being pro-active and trying to satisfy your needs – I have had to call these people 4-5 times in a day sometimes to have them pay attention. Some people might get frustrated by this but all I would say is be ready for this – accept it and work with the system. Things will happen – albeit a bit slow. Building relationships or knowing people helps significantly. I say all this having lived in India for a major part of my life before moving to US but after returning we all have changed expecting things to happen, expecting people to honor their words and expecting timeliness and promptness which is part of the rediscovering process.

Privatization in all sectors has spurred competition which has been good for consumers in general. Broadband prices have gone down about 30 to 50% in a year for example. Insurance industry is also going through this phase now with local government agencies finding competition from private providers shaking them up. Another interesting change can be seen in the retail sector with large companies making inroads into these markets. Reliance fresh is a good example of a chain that is giving the local grocer a run for their money. In some places it has prompted opposition and violence forcing some stores to be shut down. The other day I saw an article on TV where local grocers were seen using artificial colors and other chemicals to make their vegetables and fruits look and taste good – a terrible thing for the consumers of these products. Of course I have read similar things about food products in the US where chemicals and other means are used to make bigger and better fruits and vegetables – I have always wondered how the apple looks so red and tastes delicious 🙂 all the time. Media is after all these interesting news bits all the times exposing politicians and wrong doers in the hope of creating sensational news.

Traffic and pollution – there is no running away from that. Most people prefer to live and work in suburbs – Pune has four distinct suburbs so if you can manage your life around that you don’t have to deal with traffic in the city. The local law and public systems are trying to cope up with the sudden growth the city has witnessed in the past 3 years. Traffic police system for example is very poor – the agency had to hire private security personnel to manage crossroads and major intersections.

One last update on our front – our company Neova Solutions Pvt. Ltd. is up and running and we have taken an office space in Kalyani Nagar, Pune – everyone is welcome to visit on their trips to India. On the move front – well we are looking to move to Pune for good by January 2008 – Hemal has already resigned from her job and if all goes well she and Yash will join me in Pune by January.

Staring this venture was not easy but it has been the most gratifying experience for me so far and this would have not been possible without significant help and support from my better half.

Leaving California won’t be easy for us by any stretch – the KV gang and the enthusiasm of the group made us revisit our decision many a times but then time is only moving forward – if we don’t act now we probably won’t be able to do it later.

As someone has rightly said “Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get” – the only thing is you got to open the box first 🙂

Kalpesh