After a weekend of gaining cultural impressions while getting used to the Indian climate and time difference, we started with our original purpose of coming to this country: the company visits. The first enterprise offering insights was Kohinoor Food Limited, a traditional Basmati rice producer in New Delhi. This company was the first to establish a brand based on the cultural value of rice, which is regarded as sacred food all over India. Starting with a presentation, a brief introduction of the company stated that their Basmati rice is not only exported to the Asia-Pacific and Middle East area but also to Europe including Switzerland. Later on, the delegation seperated into two groups and went for a tour where the production procedures and operations were shown and explained in detail. The visit ended with a delicious and generous lunch consisting of their Basmati rice and other Indian ingredients, which was kindly offered by the company management team.
In the afternoon, we moved on to the second company, called Aditya Dispomed near the town of Gurgaon. During the presentation of the managing director, Mr. Rajiv Kehr, we found out that this company is producing surgical and disposable blades as well as safety scalpels, which are exclusively exported to more than 80 countries around the world. While showing us the production facilities, we were impressed by the well-equipped infrastructure. And last but not least, we were again spoiled by the Indian hopsitality and their generous food and drink offers as well as small gifts given to all of us.
The rest of the day was reserved for Blaser Swisslube, one of our sponsors, who we had already visited in Switzerland. The local employees of Blaser started their presentation by giving a detailed overview of the most important factors of India such as geography, culture and politics. They also mentioned the current economic situation of India, where we were informed that the Indian government is trying to promote the agricultural sector as the country is highly self-dependent and does not need to rely on exports like China for example.
They continued with the presentation of the company itself and explained how Blaser is dealing with a large diverse customer base situated in different cities of India. They strongly pointed out their commitment towards quality and the provision of problem solutions rather than of products to their customers, mostly to be able to explain the corresponding high prices. Regarding their services, Blaser focuses on different segments, preferrably on the automative segment in India, but hopes to increase the medical and aerospace segments in near future. At the end, they indicated that their main challenge of doing business with Indian customers is their mentality of buying a product; they expect the respective service to be free of charge.
To finsih the evening of, Blaser Swisslube executed his role as a sponsor once again and invited us to a Panjabi restaurant whith excellent food and exotic drinks, where we had the oppurtunity to address questions to the Blaser employees in person and to exchange ideas and experiences.
Martina Steiner / Amila Basic
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