India: The Rise of a Sleeping Giant
Lancers Network Limited is South Asia’s leading risk consulting firm, operating in the high-on-risk countries of the region and other parts of the world including Middle East and Asia Pacific countries. Established in 1980, the firm continues to pursue its founding principles of integrity, confidentiality and service.
We spoke to their Managing Director, Shivindra Pratap Singh, who took the time out to discuss India’s booming economy and the potential benefits it brings to their clients.
India’s rapidly growing economy coupled with the emerging economies of its neighbours make South Asia a lucrative investment option offering a range of opportunities. The region, due to its peculiar business practices, also throws up an equally complex set of challenges for the potential investor.
India has a very large domestic market, and resilient private consumption is a major driver of economic growth. The country boasts some of the highest regional export and import growth rates and already has a substantial total trade volume. Barriers to foreign entry are being reduced and the government is keen to attract further foreign investment. A vast supply of inexpensive but skilled labour has turned India into the back office of the world and the region displays enormous potential as an investment destination.
More specifically, areas such as automotive, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, electricals, FMCG, banking, financial services, IT and ITES sectors have seen the most activity in the last five years. From our perspective, these are currently the best sectors for investment.
In terms of challenges, volatile political, legal and business environments along with unethical business practices pose a risk to most of the businesses operations in this region. The biggest challenge that most companies/businesses face is the unique architecture of the Indian governance framework, which is badly intertwined with central and state structures.
Over the last 35 years, Lancers has created a strong client base in this region and across the globe. We have four office locations and six field offices across India along with a reliable and experienced network in other South Asian countries. Our widespread presence ensures exceptional and consistent service across the region.
For our clients to prosper in our economy, we strongly advise them to make risk management an integral part of their corporate business activities and to see it as an enabling, rather than stifling, opportunity, which is always a pragmatic move.
Lancers has achieved unmatched client retention levels over the last 32 years across the automotive, chemicals, FMCG, banking and IT industries, owing to its quality of services, effective customisation and the levels of confidentiality maintained.
Regardless of what the economic climate may be, Lancers Network will continue to adhere to its founding principles of integrity, confidentiality and value addition. Lancers is equipped with a highly experienced operational team drawn from the financial sector, armed forces, police, security services and industry professionals. As a result, the company has developed a reputation for providing quality driven, customer focused and highly successful actionable intelligence solutions.