The Mumbai-based founder of Up and Run has reflected on the differences between Indian and Chinese companies in a recent social media post. Chanakya Shah said a visit to a trade show in Bangkok made him realise how differently Chinese and Indian teams approach business.
While the Chinese stalls at the trade show actively reached out to him to pitch their products, Shah says that Indian teams sat and waited for him to approach them. Taking this example, he claimed that ego stands in the way of success for Indian entrepreneurs.
Chinese vs Indian teams
“At Vitafoods Bangkok. Walked past 40 stalls today. Every single Chinese company pitched me, hard. Not one Indian stall even said hi,” Chanakya Shah posted on X.
Vitafoods is a nutraceutical trade show that is currently underway in Bangkok, Thailand.
Shah said that visiting the trade show made him realise how hard Chinese companies hustle to sell their products. They don’t let language barriers stand in the way of business either.
“Chinese teams are up, out, grabbing you, selling like their life depends on it. They don’t care about their English, they hustle and want to do business,” he wrote.
{{/usCountry}}“Chinese teams are up, out, grabbing you, selling like their life depends on it. They don’t care about their English, they hustle and want to do business,” he wrote.
{{/usCountry}}By contrast, Indian teams are lacking in enthusiasm. Shah called it the “Seth mentality” that plagues Indian businesses.
“Indian stalls? Sitting in chairs, waiting for you to come to them. Like the world owes them the respect first. God knows what’s this “Seth” mentality man,” the founder of Up and Run posted on X.
He ended his post by saying that Indian products may outshine Chinese ones in terms quality, but marketing is equally important to sell them.
“Our products could most likely be cleaner, cheaper and better. But quality doesn’t sell itself when you prefer to sit on your chair all day,” he wrote.
Shah concluded by saying that Indian businesses need to set their ego aside and market more aggressively.
“Ego isn’t a marketing strategy. We need to get off the chair,” he concluded.
Post sparks discussion
The post sparked a discussion on Indian businesses vs their foreign counterparts.
“Indian exhibitors show the least hustle in our field. They don't network, hardly stay back for any evening receptions and are never seen taking out any potential customer for an evening dinner after exhibition hours. They are very content eating home food in their hotel rooms,” one X user commented.
“I will tell you what happens. It depends on the customer they are expecting. For Chinese you are foreign customer so they will attend you. For India you are a local customer and they are looking for foreign customers. They have specially told to attend foreign customers,” another user, named Anshul Garg, argued.