Challenges Faced by Expatriates in India

The assignment explores the challenges faced by expatriates in India, including communication barriers, lack of proper management, and cultural differences. These challenges can lead to demotivation of local personnel, lengthy process of documentation, and less work orientation. The assignment also discusses the impact of host country language skills on expatriate adjustment and relationships. It is essential for companies operating in India to consider these challenges and develop strategies to mitigate them.

REPORT
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Table of Contents
Introduction:.............................................................................................................................4
Multinational Companies in India:.......................................................................................4
Pros and Cons why use expatriates in India.........................................................................5
Experience of expats in India:..............................................................................................6
Experience of expatriate while undertaking project or assignment......................................8
CHALLENGES FACED IN INDIA....................................................................................9
CONCLUSION:.....................................................................................................................11
References:.............................................................................................................................12

Introduction:
For successful entry in a foreign market, proper communication is required with an
unfamiliar partner so that adaptation becomes easier. With the increase in globalization, it is
easy for individuals to go beyond geographical boundary and conduct business operations.
There is difference in working style of workers at national and international level. It is
essential for Expatriates to understand it, so they are able to understand changes in better
and relevant manner. Multinational companies (MNCs) have realized the importance of
social-cultural values on local organizational behaviour. It is important to understand
language, culture, etc. so employees are able to maintain good relations with employer at
India. Since the year 1990's many expatriates are attracted to India and many have already
entered (Noe et al. 2017). This report is based on Reliance industries Limited. This
association was founded in 1973 by Dhirubhai Ambani. This organisation has different
products of petroleum, natural gas, textiles, telecommunication, media, etc. In the present
paper, the challenges faced by the expatriates in India are discussed with special reference to
employment relations. Moreover, the discussion relating to the work culture followed in
India and the ways to counter the same is contained as part of the present paper in detail.
Multinational Companies in India:
The importance foreign manager gives to the understanding of business and
management in India is largely dependent on the attractiveness of India. The increasing flow
of entry of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in India is seen as a very important indicator of
the presence of MNCs in India. Moreover, the increased flow of investment is often
accompanied by an increase in the population of expatriate employees (Shah, Russell and
Wilkinson 2017). After analyzing the distribution of FDI in India, it has become very clear
that the United Kingdom, Germany, Sweden, and some other foreign countries have become
an important source of inflows in India.
As represented in the figure above, the response that India has received globally to
Indian reforms has been positive. The annual flow of FDI in India has recently increased
from 0.1 billion to 3.9 billion in recent years. During the same time, the stock of FDI in
India was increased by 8.3 percent per GDP. This signifies a major increase in the total
number of companies in India. It thus becomes very relevant to note that the attractiveness
of Indian economy as part of the developing countries was not impacted at the time of the

Asian crisis (Fan, Harzing and Köhler 2018). Analyzing the distribution of FDI by the
country of birth it has become very evident that firms from European countries have been
one of the major sources of FDI flow in India. Most of the MNCs that entered India started
with either Greenfield projects or joint ventures as part of local firms.
Pros and Cons why use expatriates in India
Working in India is bit easy and flexible because lifestyle of people are easy and
there is more familiar environment as compared to foreign country. So expatriate are
satisfied while working at Reliance Industries. This is a big organisation, where people from
different region or culture work together. There are many different occasions which are
celebrated in premises such as festivals and also some of the activities are conducted on
regular basis. This makes them familiar with individuals working at Reliance Industries.
Some pros for expatriate in India are as follows: Having better knowledge: Expats who were working in foreign countries have
knowledge, experience and information about the same company. So it will be very
easy for them to adopt the operation and functioning of Reliance industry. So it will
be beneficial for India to work with such expertise. Upholding same practices: Expats were upholding the same practice which they are
going to do in India. So it will save the time to train them about rules and regulation
of company as they were already familiar with the same. It will be beneficial to India
as if new employee is appointed the company need to provide with proper training
for the same (Shah, Russell and Wilkinson, 2017). Self motivated: Only the best performer of companies are shifted from one place to
another. This will boost the motivation among the employees to perform more
efficiently at other place. At India the employees will work with more enthusiasm to
rebuild the live over there.
 Living like a king size: As India is not that expensive country as compared to other.
The employees are able to save from the income they generate. In other words will
increase the cost of living. This will be beneficial in context of India as more and
more employees will attract in terms of improving their standard.

Although there are pros in using expats in India as it will bring new talent in India. Further
in this context there are some cons of hiring people from foreign countries. Some of them
are discussed below: Expats are expensive: Expats are two to three time expensive than hiring employees
of local region. As employees are switching from foreign to India they demand for
higher salary. Reliance industry must also look after the accommodations, taxes and
other migration documents. This process will bear additional expenses. So it will be
very expensive for India to appoint such talent Legal documents can be problematic: When expats are moving toward India. There
migration document is required. Dealing with such type of legal document can
sometimes be risky as Indian Company could be fined for operating with foreign
employees (Fan, Harzing and Köhler, 2018). Negative impact on Indian culture: As expats are working in India but still they will
follow their own culture which they were following earlier. This will have a threat to
traditional customs of India. It is so because it increases the chances of adoption of
the foreign culture by our local people which will be a loss to our own culture and
tradition.
 Demotivation in Local Workers: It also increases the chances of demo0tyivation
among the local employees as they are not hired, instead of this the foreign
employees are given foremost importance.
 Increase in Unemployment in the Home Country: As the foreigners are provided
with the opportunity to work and earn, so this had increased the unemployment in
the home country which can cause various issues such as illiteracy, poverty etc.
Experience of expats in India:
Expatriate are the people, who outside country fore working in India or for some
other purpose. There are different aspects which has to be considered by expatriate while
they are working in India. Apart from the foreign national embassy staff members and other
organizations that operate internationally based in India, the expatriates come from countries
whose companies have invested in India. Therefore, based on the country of origin of FDI,

one can conclude that expatriates from South Korea, Germany, United Kingdom, and the
United States form the majority of expats working in India (Zhang, Harzing and Fan 2018).
Most of the expatriates stay in the major cities in India. This is supported by the
Indian affiliation done by the MNCs. The population of expatriates is slightly higher in
Mumbai than Delhi. Nonetheless, Delhi had a higher number of expatriates in the service
sector. Thus, it can be said that they interact with the urban population in India rather than
the rural population (Vijayakumar and Cunningham 2019).
Expatriates are employed for short-term project work for a particular time span,
mostly for a span of twelve months. Knowing the complexities of training and selecting
expatriates for employment in India it can be assumed that most of them come to India from
medium to long-term employment projects. On the other hand, some researchers are of the
opinion that because of the availability of well educated experienced and talented managers
in India, companies send expatriates mostly for short timed projects. There is another type of
expatriates staying in India and they have to take care of the Indian unit in the headquarters
at regular intervals (Zhang, Harzing and Fan 2018).
Experience of expatriate are good while working and undertaking their projects.
They came India for the period up-to Twelve year. While working at Reliance Industries,
expatriate have following experience-
Enjoy culture but treated as foreigner- As some of the expatriate working in India
at Reliance Industries, they enjoy culture of India. But they always treated as foreigner.
While working in association, the are able to understand trends to be followed by employees
at workplace but residing people thinks that they are not aware.
Not ideal place for family- Expatriate does not have good view about India in
context of their family. Cultural values, religion norms, etc. are different. They do not feel
safe with their children an family while outing. They feel that there is no roper residing
facilities for family which affects their mindset while conducting operations (Zhang,
Harzing and Fan, 2018).
Low cost of living- Cost of living in India is low as compared to their native place.
This affects changes in better and relevant manner. While working and conducting project at
Reliance Industries, they get sufficient amount of money which through which they can

satisfy their needs. They feel that there is more familiar relations among employers and
mangers of Reliance Industries.
Lack of leisure and digital life- In India there is lack of leisure life which affects
working style of expatriate. In India, there is less emphasise on night life, pubs, drinks, etc.
SO in this case they are not able to energise themselves. In Reliance Industries, there is
official parties organised occasionally which makes them satisfied. There is lack of
flexibility in working hours. People focus on quantity rather then quality. Due to lack of
digital aspects, they are not able to communicate with their dear ones. They thinks that India
is technically background, so they do not get good comfort here.
Communication issue- Communication is the main core aspect which helps to
communicate with individuals of local region. There is language issue among expatriate and
local employees. So sometimes they are not to explain them about aspects which has to be
considered. Expatriate more focus on written and formal communication for business
purpose, while local workers, communicate orally. Some times, verbal communication leads
to miscommunication and affects relations with managers at Reliance Industries. This is the
major issue which expatriate face while working in India. Some times, expatriate face issue
in training program because of language issue.
Experience of expatriate while undertaking project or assignment
While conducting assignment or project at India, expatriate are satisfied, but they
have view that people are stuck to some specific area. This affects their working style and
implementation of innovative ideas. Existing people want to play safe while conducting
business operations. They are not ready to take risk. There is lack of management and
leadership approaches, which affects working style of team (Kumar and Chhokar, 2018.).
Most of the expatriates are sent to India to manage and handle projects that comprise of
management responsibilities. Therefore, expatriates are mostly senior employees in a
particular area acting as superiors of other Indian employees. Hardly any expatriates work
under Indian managers as their leaders in India. This observation is clearly indicative of the
fact that expats coming to India not only have the duty to adapt themselves in Indian
environment but they also have to lead the Indian employees. The understanding of work
culture, management rules, and firm behaviour have two purposes of leading and survival.
The above observation has clearly explained that expatriate coming to India has the duty to

adapt them in the Indian work culture and when working as leaders need to lead them as
well (Akkan, Lazarova and Reiche 2018).
CHALLENGES FACED IN INDIA
There is a limitation on the data provided regarding the experience of expatriates in India as
it is mostly focused on European Managers and the United States. Noe et al (2017),
conducted research in his earliest known publication on expats in India and the same is dealt
with the cultural aspects of Germans working in India. A group of German expatriates based
their work on a steel plant in India that was operated and controlled. It has provided a great
deal of insight on the challenges they faced, however, the research was too old to be useful.
Another work was done by Shah, Russell, and Wilkinson (2017) that analyzed the
intercultural interaction between Indians and Germans. This work was based on the non-
profit organizations and the companies owned by the state. In this research, the author
examined the ways in which expatriates adapted to local situations in India. One of the
biggest challenges faced by the expatriates in India is cultural adaption. India is a diverse
nation having cultural diversity. Thus, the expats find a lot of difficulty in adapting to the
given diversity.
Reliance Industries is the organisation originated in India, so they have working style
as per change Indian values. There are some challenges which are faced by expatriate while
shifting to India for working purpose. Some of them are discussed as under-
Getting Phone working- There is different in network to be used at home country
and India, so expatriate feels dissatisfied while working in country. They are not able to
communicated with their family and dear ones due to which they feel aloof and this affects
their mindset. This s the major challenge faced by expatriate while working at Reliance
Industries.
Finding home comfort- Expatriate are not able to get home comfort at India.
Sometimes they are not able to get familiar with changes happening in industry. There is
difference in eating habits of Indian people so they are not able to get things of their choice
which affects their comfortable level. India is a difficult location for them to adapt
(Vijayakumar and Cunningham, 2019). However, the adaptation process in India is easier
when compared to other countries. The advantage of communicating in the English
language can be stated here as an important element of the adaptation process.

Lengthy process of documentation- Expatriate requires different documents for
settling in India. For period of 10- 12 months, they are required to have complete
documents. For instance: bank account is important but due to lack of guarantee they are not
able to have account in local or national bank of India. Expatriate have lack of documents,
so legal proceedings take long time.
Being stared and inappropriate behaviour- This is the one of the most common
challenge which expatriate face while working in India. Local residing people stared them
which is ill-mannered and affects changes in better and relevant manner. In order to
understand changes in better and relevant manner. In India, there is more influence of rural
people. Sometimes expatriate face inappropriate behaviour from local people. Staring of
people makes expatriate uncomfortable and they are not mentally settled to conduct
activities in best and appropriate manner (Zhang, Harzing and Fan, 2018.).
Less work orientation- Working style of Indian organisation is not upgraded as
compared to developed country. Organisations such as Reliance Industries has lack of
technology in working of organisation, so expatriate feels that are not able to conduct
operations in better and relevant manner.
Apart from above discussed challenges, there are many other issues faced by
expatriate while working in Reliance industries. Expatriate works in India for time period of
1 year, so they have analyse their stay facilities, educational aspects for children, etc. There
is different in learning and studying style such as change in course so they feel issue in
settling at India. In corporate world, English is the universal language but all the people are
not able to interact in English such as local vendors, grocery stores, etc. In the above
paragraph, it is clearly mentioned that one of the advantages of having expats in India is that
language does not become a problem as most of the Indians working in an office are able to
speak English. But the reports on language survey suggest that there are many Indians who
are not able to speak English (Akkan, Lazarova and Reiche, 2018). Though this large
population of the non-English speaking population may or may not get directly involved
with the expat, it does create a lack of communication or a gap of communication. There is
more black marketing, corruption, etc. at India which gives bad impression to them
regarding official working system of country. As working in big organisation, they are able
to understand operational efficiency, lack of management practices, motivation, leadership
by managers to perform activities in systematic manner.

Expatriates have their own issues and the native to have their own issues with regard
to work culture and discipline. These differences are to be expected beforehand and what
must be concentrated is the positive outcome of international collaborations and the
enhancement of the whole process of globalization that has resulted from employee
exchange programs. Cost is an important element that is imputed in expatriate management.
Cost is something that cannot be brought into management but at the back of every
management, it is a cost that is making the majority of the decisions. Since India is a
developing nation and the cost becomes an important determinant of almost everything, it is
vital the cost is taken into consideration (Kumar and Chhokar, 2018).
CONCLUSION:
From the above discussion, it is clear that there are some issues faced by expatriate while
conducting operations in better and relevant manner. Having better options of knowledge,
self motivated staff are some pros which can get through expatriate. But there are some cons
of expatriate as well such as more documentation, demotivation of local personnel, etc.
There are some thoughts which expatriate have in their mind such as treated as foreigner,
not an ideal place for family, low living cost, etc. Major challenges faced by expatriate are
communication barriers, lack of proper management, etc. Apart from this expatriate face
more issues in India such as staring of local individuals, lengthy process of documentation,
less work orientation, etc.

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