There’s been an incredible amount of excitement at Bite’s newly opened India (New Delhi) office. Though we’ve only just clocked our first month since being open for business, it’s been a fantastic coming together of an experienced and familiar team (we’ve all worked together in previous positions) and a great bunch of clients only too familiar with Bite in other markets or familiar with the team here. It’s a good time, I thought, to pen down my first of many upcoming BiteMarks posts!

As I’m sure you’ll know, things are happening at a rather frenzied pace in India. As an emerging economy, high-growth market and the world’s largest democracy, we’re seeing a natural, upward curve in all things social, economic, technological or political. There are interesting market forces or regulatory changes at play here that are paving the way for the future and to a great level, impacting the way companies communicate in this market.  For example, let’s look at supply chains in India right from agriculture to aerospace.

Though a strong agrarian economy, India could certainly do with better crop storage and distribution (we lost $12 billion in agricultural produce in 2008 for lack of better storage). There’s certainly a need for greater agricultural efficacy particularly in India’s high inflation regime. As the likes of Wal-Mart make their way into India, their pitch can’t be just about market access, but must also include specific methodologies and technologies that allow India to streamline its supply chains and bring about wider economic benefits as a result. Another relevant sector is aerospace. Against the backdrop of India’s emergence as one of the world’s largest military hardware buyers, there are specific procurement norms that mandate the likes of Boeing or EADS to plough back a significant chunk from overall order values into India’s local economy (better known as “offsets”). As India’s domestic defense players get “offset” ready, the world’s aerospace majors have a large role to play in helping build India’s ecosystem of defense suppliers not only for its sovereign needs, but helping India get onto global supply chain maps as well.

For both India-based businesses going global, and for MNC’s seeking to maximize the value of their participation in the India market for instance, a clever and forward-looking view on supply chain management is key. Strategic use of communications plays an important role. Companies need to both reach out to engage and educate relevant stakeholders such as government, analysts, industries, and influencers such as the media, as well as make sure they have a powerful point of view on how their involvement with Indian supply chains is contributing to domestic growth and India’s global success. Increasingly, these points of view must be relevant and objective enough to robustly withstand the queries of the media and the rigors of debates on blogs and in online discussion groups.

Not surprisingly, that’s where Bite comes in, and we’re off to a great start helping clients such as HP, Intercontinental Hotels Group, the Richard Ivey School of Business, SWIFT, and Siemens PLM join valuable conversations here.