World City Guide

Business

Business Etiquette
The Indian Hindu greeting is to put both hands together as if in prayer and tilt the head forward. Indian women may prefer not to shake hands, although men will be quite comfortable with it. Language is a very political issue in India, with 18 official languages and 1600 minor languages and dialects. Government policy encourages the use of Hindi, which is widely spoken in Delhi and the north. English is usually sufficient for most business situations.

Corporate entertaining is an important part of Indian business life, making business lunches and dinners a minefield of potential disasters. The first rule is that Indians eat only with the right hand - the left hand may be used to hold a cup or utensil but would not be used to eat or pass food within polite society. Generally, the left hand should be used neither to pass anything nor to point at anyone. Gifts and business cards should be accepted with the right hand or both hands at the same time, as a sign of respect. The other taboo part of the body is the foot. Shoes should be removed when entering a private home and, when sitting, care should be taken to ensure feet are never pointed at anyone.

Indians are very conservative when it comes to dress and women should ensure that they are modestly dressed, with legs and shoulders covered. Trousers are acceptable but short skirts can be offensive. Regardless of how hot it gets, men are expected to wear suits and should remember the country’s British Raj heritage - Indian businessmen still wear blazers for afternoon drinks and dress for dinner. Visitors invited to the hallowed ground of the Gymkhana club, for instance, should bear in mind that anyone not dressed in a jacket and tie is automatically ruled out (and teetotallers are not much favoured either).

It has to be said that New Delhi remains very much attached to the days of the Raj, in more ways than one. The legacy of its political and bureaucratic culture means that business is still conducted according to the rather idiosyncratic Indian Standard Time - the same time zone (GMT + 5.5) applies for all areas of this vast country. Business hours are 0930/1000 to 1730/1800. As in the rest of India, however, Delhi is keen to be hooked up to the online world. Hotels and Internet cafes provide sometimes slow and sporadic connection by satellite; India remains a country where it can be difficult to get a telephone line. Laptops can be used to connect to the Internet but the adapters required for Indian telephone sockets can be hard to come by.