Business | An outside chance

How to succeed—and fail—as a foreign business in India

Why some companies are staying put while others up sticks

A Shopkeeper Adjusts Boxes of Apple iPhone 15 inside his Electronics shop in Sopore District.
Products with staying powerImage: Getty Images
|Mumbai

THE RECENT history of foreign business in India is littered with failures. Even as the country has tried to lure global businesses keen to diversify into a fast-growing emerging market and, amid rising geopolitical tensions, away from China, many multinational companies are throwing in the towel. Notable departures over the past couple of years include Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank; Ford, an American carmaker; Holcim, a Swiss cement giant; and Metro, a German retailer. Disney is negotiating the sale of all or part of its streaming business. On November 24th Berkshire Hathaway, a $780bn American investment Goliath, offloaded its 2.5% stake in Paytm, an Indian payments processor.

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This article appeared in the Business section of the print edition under the headline “An outside chance”

From the December 2nd 2023 edition

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