American Chamber of Commerce in India
Apex Chamber of U.S. Industry in India

Roundtable on “Brand India – How is India Perceived from Within and Without” – 6th April 2016

The roundtable on “Brand India – How is India Perceived from Within and Without” held on the 6th of April 2016 was an initiative of AmCham’s Western Region Committee. The event organized by the American Chamber of Commerce, in association with Resources Global Professionals (I) Pvt. Ltd., aimed to cover a topic of much deliberation in our current time – “Brand India.”

The breakfast event began with Ms. Surabhi Wahal, Regional Director – Western Region, AmCham India, welcoming the participants and the speaker for the event, the eminent industry leader Mr. R. Gopalakrishnan. Mr. Mahesh Krishnamurti, Managing Director, Resources Global Professionals (I) Pvt. Ltd. set the stage with a prelude that threw light on the complexities and uniqueness that is India, a land of incredible riches as well as abject poverty, an emerging economic superpower and also a land with a large population deprived of basic amenities. Mr. Krishnamurti through his remarks pointed to the importance of understanding the perception of India from the outside and more importantly from within India.

Mr. R. Gopalakrishnan, Author and Corporate Advisor, Mindworks, shared an enlightening talk that brought forth core realities of underlying factors that make India what it is. He began by going back to the evolution of the world’s known civilizations and the conditioning effect that it has played on the culture of countries. With experiential examples, Mr. Gopalakrishnan elaborated on India’s political and economic evolution while saying that the Indian growth chart has been uniquely distinct as compared to its western or even eastern counterparts. Culturally and socially again, India has retained much of it’s original beliefs and structures. Simultaneously, the Indian citizen is also greatly influenced by global culture. The influence of these factors, Mr. Gopal stated, has manifest itself in a unique mindset – in the work, home and global space. While comparing India to a colloid, he said that Indians are unconsciously trying to balance a duality of thought. “Indian managers today think in English, but act Indian.” Mr. Gopal ended his presentation stating that a nation is not its past, but what it makes op its present.

An interactive Q&A session followed which put forth perspectives on distinct Indian methodologies in the work world, the ideas of time, punctuality, competitiveness and the cultural strategy of building emotional infrastructure to facilitate business. The session also invited participants to share feedback on the type of events or topics that would be of interest in the year 2016-2017, so as to enable AmCham’s Western Region to direct its efforts toward building even more valuable events for its members.

The event concluded with a vote of thanks by Mr. Mark Martyn-Fisher, Country Manager, UPS Jetair Express Pvt. Ltd., who thanked AmCham and RGP for creating the opportunity to hear from such a distinguished industry leader as Mr. Gopalakrishnan and also the opportunity to learn and interact with fellow AmCham members.

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