Beauracracy in India

Having experience in the western world where business speed, efficiency and delivery are our Gods, it is indeed hard to fathom that India still retains a system which it inherited from the British sixty years ago, which remains largely unchanged. It is indeed true that it remains a largely paper based system, with many many government or state employees each servicing just their specific task in the process, all relying on each other to move your paperwork through their system, thereby causing some major time delays as each person checks off their very specific part of the process before forwarding your document to the next person in the cycle.

I personally found it excrutiatingly difficult to relate back to my home office when I first arrived in India why we were waiting days, weeks and sometimes months for core business set up processes to be completed. If you are sending your faithful company representatives here to act on your behalf, please be gentle and understanding as the beauracracy can be simply tear-inducing, and it certainly adds an additional level of stress to your people who are already coping with a dramatically different society!

The problem with implementing the change is not lack of inspiration or desire, it is more that India is an enormous country, divided into many different states, cultures and languages - making the implementation of change here a truely mammoth and unenviable process.

Implementation of faster and less draconian processes will also result in putting a great many of those employed out of a job. In India, a government job is considered a "job for life". So there is social change and responsibility that comes into play here as well. The decision makers sit on the fence between great pressure to continue opening up to competition and to improve services at every level, as well as managing this change in a vocal, politically aware and long established sector.

It is with anticipation that I read in the media that some areas of current government and state service sectors are to be opened to private contractors. Exact areas where such opening up will be is currently being determined through an extensive exercise identifying areas where the existing monopoly of functions can be tempered with competition.

The government does outsource some services, however this new initiative is fundamentally different as it invites private parties for the first time to contract the provision of services back to the government. Opening up to competition, and therefore improving service.

The introduction and provision of online services and submissions is growing, so it is not intention that is lacking here, it is merely the difficulty of navigating the complex path of change in a responsible way.

I expect the recurring conversations with foreign companies and individuals doing business here to continue for a while yet, regarding their frustrations at the beauracratic processes and the often long delays in the lifecycle of basic submissions. Change will not happen overnight, however I can assure you that it is happening.

In the meantime: business continues, opportunities remain intoxicating, plentiful and diverse across all sectors - and the current struggles with beauracracy is not reason enough to frighten foreign investors off.