India demands homegrown consulting companies to grow to be a imagined-leader

Are People in america fundamentally better consultants? No. Consulting is a tertiary sector. Principal and secondary industries have to develop to develop the consulting field. For most of the 20th century, the US was the motor of international financial progress. This established the system for US-bred consulting companies to build the knowledge, qualifications and methodologies that they effectively exported to other nations around the world. US-bred consulting corporations are the missionaries of the American way of performing organization globally.

Extending this logic, provided India will be a key engine of world wide development in the 21st century, shouldn’t there be a established of India-bred international consulting companies? Completely.

Is this pattern now enjoying out? In some ways, of course. Almost all the corporations listed above leverage Indian expertise to aid their world engagements. McKinsey leverages its expertise centre dependent in Gurugram, Bain does the exact with its capability community as does Accenture with its world wide network. Deloitte recruits consultants in Hyderabad to guidance its US places of work in substantial-end consulting do the job. These US-bred firms leverage hundreds of India-centered consultants to assist engagements globally. In addition, there are 1000’s of Indian consultants performing for these multinationals in international offices.

If US-bred corporations are by now leveraging India for large-conclusion consulting expert services, why aren’t India-bred firms taking the lead? The respond to is sophisticated: Due to the fact the introduction of globalization, its policies have been developed to favour the West, with India positioned as a supply of “cheap” talent, no matter how large-conclusion. Intercontinental corporations have been quick to leverage India’s expertise and expense-pros even though Indian companies have struggled to construct towards the tide.

Even India’s enduring good results story, the IT services sector, is pegged as a help provider at the CIO-stage, alternatively of a strategic company at the CEO-stage. This positioning has been difficult even for leaders this kind of as Infosys, which has struggled to make a globally aggressive consulting follow.

Are there indications that this craze could adjust? Certainly, we are observing the convergence of a number of significant adjust drivers. The Indian economy has developed to an extent that India-bred firms can establish the expertise, qualifications and methodologies to triumph globally. As electronic systems turn into integral to just about every enterprise, Indian IT majors now have immediate obtain further than the CIO to the CEO and board. Indian consulting talent, each in India and abroad, have attained a crucial mass. Accessibility to prime-class talent is no extended restricted to a number of multinationals. At last, covid-19 has appreciably decreased the demand for bodily co-spot for superior-close consulting products and services. The advantage of co-found workplaces that multinationals relished has decreased considerably.

So, what needs to transpire to generate at minimum five India-bred world consulting firms? Very first, we want a handful of India-bred firms to construct scale and create the enterprise model. This will develop a body of world-wide circumstance scientific tests and sponsor customers that are required to establish on this development. That is particularly what we are striving to do in Auctus Advisors: Additional than 50 percent our business enterprise is by now global and we have sponsor consumers in the US, Spain, Uk, Brazil and the Philippines. Second, India-bred consulting companies require to come with each other to variety an advocacy platform like Nasscom (or maybe Nasscom needs to expand its remit to involve India-bred strategy companies). Lastly, even though covid-19 may perhaps be the equivalent of the Y2K function that propelled Indian IT to the world-wide phase, we want someone to establish and individual this narrative, like Thomas Friedman did for IT companies with The Environment is Flat.

Technique consulting corporations could make use of smaller quantities than IT services, but the effect this market can build is disproportionate. The smooth electrical power that an India-bred world wide consulting sector can wield is crucial to India’s total competitiveness in the world wide phase. India needs its very own consulting companies to re-position its economic system from cost-leader to thought-leader.

The time has come for India-bred world-wide consulting firms. However, the window is short, and we have to build this narrative now. The levels of competition will not hold out.

Abhisek Mukherjee is co-founder and director, Auctus Advisors.