This is not an honest take on ‘ease of doing business in india’. What the author is trying to do is re-purpose his agricultural land for non agricultural use. For various socio-political reasons this is big no-no in many states in India and is known to be a very long winding and drawn out process because the govt does not want agricultural land to be re-purposed. I expected something along the lines of ‘I tried to se…
I tried starting a manufacturing unit in India (2020)
351–360 of 456 posts
Re: I tried starting a manufacturing unit in India (2020)
#352This is almost identical to the process of setting up a manufacturing facility here in the bay area. Difference is that you never do all this yourself. You use permit sherpas and general contractors to handle most of the paperwork. Source: done it three times
Re: I tried starting a manufacturing unit in India (2020)
#353> Yes, you need to obtain “permission” before you build any manufacturing structure on your own land with your own money. I don't understand why this is phrased as incredulous. Are there countries where this isn't the case? Just because you own the land -which you don't, you merely have a title that grants you the exclusive, but limited, usage rights of that land- does not mean you are free to just build whatever you…
> Balkan levels of bribery. Yeah think again.
Re: I tried starting a manufacturing unit in India (2020)
#354~5 years ago, I hired three Indian developers. They asked me if we could set up an Indian legal entity, so that they could just get regular salaries in India with tax payments, deductions etc taken care of. I agreed and we got it done. One of the worst business-decisions of my life. The amount of red tape, stupid rules, corruption, signatures, stamps, showing up physically in a certain office etc etc... Mindblowing.…
In the meantime companies like remote.com and similar have sprung up, providing "employer of record" services. Basically they let you outsource the act of having a company in a given country and employing people through it, much like how Stripe lets you outsource the whole merchant account thing for payments. It seems that whenever there's red tape, there's a business opportunity in paving over it and providing a san…
Re: I tried starting a manufacturing unit in India (2020)
#355Earlier quoted context omitted.
Malls are the worst when it comes to security theater. Most will check your car's boot for illicit materials when you park. But they won't check the car's interios - you could have anything inside! You'll usually be frisked at the mall entrance. Women will only get frisked by a female security guard. If the female security guard is absent (pretty common), any female visitor can just walk through without getting frisk…
Wait, everyone gets frisked at Indian malls? Was certainly not my experience 20 years ago.
Re: I tried starting a manufacturing unit in India (2020)
#356Earlier quoted context omitted.
This does not seem sound and reasonable. Yes, India has been civilized for 5000 years, with the result that it's very densely populated; but "very densely populated" is only 418 people per square kilometer, less than twice Germany's 232. 53% of India's land area is arable land: 790 people per square kilometer of arable land, or 1270 square meters of arable land per person. I feel like 100 square meters of factory are…
Population density of Nederlands: >500 people/sq.km.
Re: I tried starting a manufacturing unit in India (2020)
#357I do not understand the authors issue with paying bribes. You want your factory, you are willing to pay lots of money for it, and the system works with bribes. Fine, so be it. Pay the bribes and get to work. I once lived in such a country*. The unfairness is built in, but if you have the money, you can get whatever you need relatively quickly. If you are trying to save money, fine. But you are willing to go to court,…
Paying bride is a criminal offense. Paying bride abroad is also a domestic criminal offense. I do not think encouraging criminal behavior is a great idea, especially when it is also unequivocally morally wrong.
Cringe.
Re: I tried starting a manufacturing unit in India (2020)
#358Earlier quoted context omitted.
Exactly. This is what the rest of the world usually says on the first encounter with "tips culture" in the US. As I see it, cultures are different and one thing that is considered an absolute taboo in one culture might be customary in another. Tips in the US are customary yet at the same time they are offensive in Japan. Bribes are killing the economy in my country yet it makes economy moving in India. PS: I personal…
> Exactly. This is what the rest of the world usually says on the first encounter with "tips culture" in the US. I think my shock was greater when I discovered that lobbying in the US means "literal legal bribery". In a lot of the western world that word it means things "having meetings" and perhaps "organizing PR campaigns". Straight up giving money to politicians is against the law.
This is what the internet thinking lobbying means because they just want to be angry at a thing without bothering to learn about it because that would expose their own political apathy. Lobbying in the US means the exact same things that it means in the rest of the world. Companies will donate a few thousand dollars, so that a legislature will hear them out, but the legislature doesn't have to listen to them. There is some sketchy stuff going on with campaign finance for sure, but it's no where near as bad as "legalized bribery."
Re: I tried starting a manufacturing unit in India (2020)
#359Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Balkan levels of bribery. Yeah think again.
think again because "there's no bribes in the balkan" (rural cops in the balkan will pull you over for literally nothing just to make you pay them to go away again) or "it's so much worse than the balkan" (I won't argue that one, it really is)
Re: I tried starting a manufacturing unit in India (2020)
#360Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Everything requires an application, even when everything can be done digitally. Please also provide two self attested photocopies. (It’s interesting to think about why attestation is required.)
Now they ask for "official Aadhar". Even though its a digital document and Aadhar website explicitly states that every copy of Aadhar is an "official" copy. If you get a color print and get it laminated, your unofficial Aadhar suddenly becomes "official". I've had so many arguments with officials about this its unreal.
> its a digital document and Aadhar website explicitly states that every copy of Aadhar is an "official" copy
part multiple times to people in my family, but had assumed this would be basic knowledge to government officials.