How Indian companies are making a mark in the global arena?

Introduction

Over the past few decades, there has been a change in the essence and dynamics of the Indian companies’ commitment to the overseas markets.

Due to technological and structural advancements in the country, there has been a rise in the number of start-ups, which are competing with foreign companies. The Indian companies are being successful at global level, because of availability of manpower with skills and at low cost.

The key trends that are driving Indian companies' presence in the overseas markets are:

• Globalisation, which has led to the growth of Indian companies’ competitive capabilities and intense engagements with global businesses
• Emergence of new types of businesses due to the impact of information and communication technology on the world of business

Indian companies are creating a strong presence in the foreign markets. Recently, many companies have formed global and regional leadership positions in sectors ranging from pharmaceuticals, automotive and consumer goods to telecommunications, infrastructure, and energy.

In addition, iconic brands such as Jaguar Land Rover, Tetley Tea and Daewoo are held by Indian giants/companies.

Successful Indian start-ups

Most Indian start-ups are building their businesses for global markets and are catering major part of its services outside India. 

A leading Indian start-up, Zomato, which is one of the largest food aggregators in the world, has already been claiming itself to be number one player in its space with presence in 24 countries and >10,000 cities worldwide.

Another homegrown cab-hailing start-up, Ola, has expanded its presence in Australia, New Zealand, and the UK. The company also plans to expand into the Netherlands, Kenya, Dubai, Israel, and Brazil.

Oyo Rooms, which is one of the world's leading hospitality chain, crossed the mark of 50 million app downloads in September 2020. With majority downloads being from India, followed by Indonesia, Malaysia, the US, and Brazil.

The Indian start-ups are not only establishing a fresh global customer base but also showing their prominence in the global market.

‘BIG’ investments in Indian start-ups

India is emerging as a pioneer in attracting foreign investments in different sectors, in which the start-up ecosystem is drawing billions of investments. This is mainly due to the government emphasis on Indian manufacturing and the ‘Make in India’ initiative, which has gained momentum in promoting India's dream of being Asia's next global powerhouse.

Five Indian start-ups have raised >US$ 400 million amid the pandemic and made their way into the elite ‘Unicorn Club’ with >US$ 1 billion in valuation. These start-ups attracted both domestic and international investors at a time when most companies were adversely impacted by the cash-flow issues. These start-up companies include FirstCry, Postman, Zerodha, Unacademy and Razorpay.

• Overall, the top-funded Indian start-ups

From 2016 to 2020, >50,000 Indian tech start-ups received >US$ 60 billion of investments, making India the world's third-largest technology start-up hub.

In 2019, Indian start-ups received US$ 34 billion in funds and from January 2020 to May 2020, Indian start-ups received funds worth US$ 17 billion.

Indian companies in ‘Fortune 500’ list

Fortune is a multinational media organisation, headquartered in the US, that publishes the list of global 500 largest companies annually. The company’s rating is based on the total revenues on or before March 31 of their respective fiscal years.

Indian companies are making a mark in the list, with Reliance jumping 10 places to break into the world's top 100 companies on the ‘Fortune Global 500’ list.

The Indian companies making a mark in the top ‘Fortune 500’ list are as follows:

• Reliance Industries Limited

Reliance Industries Limited, an Indian multinational conglomerate company, is engaged in different sectors such as energy, petrochemicals, textiles, natural resources, retail, and telecommunications.

Revenue: USD 86.2 billion

Fortune 500 Rank: 96

• Indian Oil Corporation Limited

Indian Oil Corporation Limited caters to almost all streams of oil, gas, petrochemicals, and alternative energy sources.

Revenue: US$ 69.2 billion

Fortune 500 Rank: 151

• Oil and Natural Gas Corporation

Oil and Natural Gas Corporation is an Indian public sector crude oil and gas company.

Revenue: US$ 57 billion

Fortune 500 Rank: 190

• State Bank of India

State Bank is a government-owned corporation, headquartered in Maharashtra, India. The corporation is into banking and financial services.

Revenue: US$ 51 billion

Fortune 500 Rank: 221

• Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited

Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited is a one of the leading oils and gas companies. The company’s line of business includes refining of crude oil and marketing of petroleum products, with a significant presence in upstream and downstream sectors of the oil and gas industry.

Revenue: US$ 40 billion

Fortune 500 Rank: 309

• Tata Motors

Tata Motors is a leading automobile manufacturing company. Its portfolio includes cars, sports utility vehicles, trucks, buses, and defense vehicles.

Revenue: US$ 42 billion

Fortune 500 Rank: 337

• Rajesh Exports Limited

Rajesh Exports Limited, headquartered in Bangalore, India, is a global leader in the gold business.

Revenue: US$ 27 billion

Fortune 500 Rank: 462

Adopting Acquisitions Strategy

In the last few years, several Indian companies have grown at a rapid pace in both domestic and international markets. Few of these companies took the merger and acquisition route to scale quickly. Through the mergers and acquisitions strategy, Indian companies are able to showcase their capabilities at the global level, with their major focus being to gain access to a larger market, increase their customer base and achieve economies of scale.                                                                                                                                                       

Major acquisitions

• Hindalco Industries Ltd. acquired Novelis for US$ 6 billion
• Sterlite Industries acquired Asarco for US$ 2.6 billion
• Tata Motors acquired Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford Motor Company for US$ 2.3 billion
• Oil and Natural Gas Corp. Ltd acquired Imperial Energy for US$ 1.9 billion
• Tata Chemicals acquired General Chemical Industrial Products for US$1 billion
• Tata Tea acquired UK’s Tetley Group for US$ 450 million
• Byju’s acquired US-based Osmo for US$ 120 million
• Zomato acquired Urbanspoon for US$ 50 million

Conclusion

Indian companies are demonstrating maturity in the international markets and are successfully operating in both developing as well as developed markets. These companies are now elevating their status from low-cost producers to innovative businesses, boasting distinctive offerings for their targeted overseas markets and are more focused on delivering quality products to win in the global markets.