Breaking into the India market – courageous decisions paying off

Some countries don’t share much of a sense of humour, but for whatever reasons that cannot be said of India and the UK. So when the British High Commissioner, James Bevan, referred to a line from “Yes Minister” in a speech he could be confident that his Indian, as well, as British audience would catch the joke.

Sir James’s reference was to the frequently used reference by senior civil servant Sir Humphrey in the TV series that a Minister’s proposal was “courageous”, as a means of making the Minister think twice about his decision.

The setting on this occasion was not in front of Ministers, but a gathering of about 200 Indian and some UK and Chinese  businesspeople, all of whom had come to celebrate the opening of a British company’s new Indian factory in Pune. It was, said Sir James, a genuinely courageous decision by Helical Auto Technology to invest in a brand new factory, which we had come to mark.

Nestling in the hills outside Pune, a city of 6M which some of Helical’s UK employees had probably never even heard of until this year, the new factory will employ about  100 staff to manufacture auto turbo-chargers for the huge automotive sector in India. The background to the decision, and how it all came about, was put crisply and to the point by Helical’s managing director, Alistair Morris.

“To the company’s embarrassment” he explained “2006 was probably one of the few times in Helical’s  51 year old history that it had actually taken part in trade delegation, to India. The key reasons to set up a plant was that the turbocharging market was developing quickly in India, and two of our main European customers had already established operations in India. In addition our main competitors had not arrived, so we had a rare opportunity to steal a march on them.

“Getting India up and running was a big challenge for a small, family run company” continued Mr. Morris, illustrating more British humour “with many memorable early trips to India – including interviewees who suggested one way to circumvent high import duties was to smuggle in the parts through Kashmir, and  another who offered to solve the love life of a panel member!

“The new building and its setting is perfect” concluded the managing director, and “sends out a clear message to all our competitors, customers and suppliers that the Helical Group is very much in India for the long term”.

Mr Morris noted the vision and industry of its Indian CEO, as well as the support of UKTI’s Pune office, in ensuring that the factory “would be a standard bearer for all that is good about the Helical Group, and will inspire us for many years to come”.

Little wonder, with such an impressive new operation, that the Helical family were out in force from Lytham St Anne’s in Lancashire to celebrate this development. The Group’s founder, Jim Morris, who made the journey to Pune, must have been proud of the move by his family into the Indian market , a bold decision which certainly looks as if it was spot on.

Helical’s investment is precisely the sort of development we in the High Commission and our UKTI team are constantly hoping to see replicated by other UK manufacturers. I am sure Helical will be happy to be seen as a role model or case study for how to break successfully into this huge but challenging market.

I hope they will open their factory doors to the occasional UK visitor, to see what can be achieved with courage, perseverance and a sprinkling of British-Indian humour.