A gubernatorial trade mission. Indian films shot in the mountains. Young Indian tourists in Vail. Video game collaboration among high school students.
Spend a few minutes with Purnima Voria and she’ll tell you her aspirations for connecting Colorado and the rest of the nation with India, one of the world’s biggest and fastest-growing economies.
Voria is chief executive of the Denver-based National U.S. India Chamber of Commerce, which she founded in 2005 with members of the business, political and Indian community. Her goal: to open doors for companies interested in selling products and services in India, and have Colorado take advantage of India’s young, burgeoning middle class.
Her work is guided by the notion that American companies need help, or better yet, hand-holding when it comes to doing business in India.
“I was reading articles about jobs going overseas and the fear in the business community, but I saw opportunity there,” said Voria. “My interest is to make socio-economic change happen and make it successful.”
Many agree. Colorado exports to India were up 23 percent in 2006 over 2005, totaling $89.2 million. Exports have been on the rise long before Voria’s chamber began promoting such business alliances.
“India is a tough place to do business; there’s still a lot of protectionist policies in place, which protect Indian companies from foreign investors,” says Jim Reis, president and chief executive of the World Trade Center. “They’re working to remove these barriers, but they still have a long way to go as far as American companies going over there and operating in a forum they feel comfortable in.”
Voria wants to ease those barriers. A membership with the chamber gets an individual or company consulting from Voria and her staff of eight, which not only includes business advice, but advice on understanding Indian culture. Membership fees range from $400 for individuals to $10,000 for a corporate membership.
Invitations to receptions at her home in Golden – which are often filled with Indian and local dignitaries – also are part of chamber membership. Voria recently planned a reception to welcome Mohini Giri, the daughter-in-law of former Indian President V.V. Giri.
Since the chamber’s inception, it has helped broker a deal for Denver-based Melco Sauer to sell embroidery machines to a company in India, Voria said.
Officials from Melco did not return calls for comment on the deal.
Ritter weighs trade mission
During his gubernatorial campaign last year, Gov. Bill Ritter said at a chamber reception that he would be interested in taking a trade mission to India, although no definitive plans have been made, said Ritter spokesman Evan Dreyer.
Voria said she is pursuing other deals and is working to set up relationships in which high school students here and in India could collaborate on a video game project.
One of the chamber’s most ambitious ideas is to work with Indian filmmakers to lure them to mountain towns to shoot their movies.
“To do business in India, you need some assistance from people who know the culture and background … otherwise it’s very difficult,” said Mohan Misra, chief executive of ITN Energy Systems in Littleton who also sits on the chamber’s board of directors. “I’ve known Purnima a long time, and I know she’s very connected in India and very connected here.”
That connection – mentioned by several people interviewed by The Denver Post – is the vice president of India, Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, a close family friend of Voria and her parents. Voria calls Shekhawat “godfather,” an American equivalent used to describe the relationship with the 84-year-old leader.
In part because of this connection, she and others say, Voria is able to make introductions in India on behalf of local businesses, bring Indian dignitaries to Colorado, and even cut through some bureaucratic red tape.
Despite the controversy around offshoring jobs – mainly call-center work – to other countries, Colorado companies are profiting. From 2003 to 2006, the state’s biggest export to India was telecommunications equipment.
Call centers competing against other call centers must distinguish themselves not only on price but on quality, said Reis of the World Trade Center. Therefore better equipment – typically from the U.S. – is essential.
“That’s the determining factor. Low price and low quality isn’t going to sell in this day and age,” he said. Countries such as India and China are “applying technology to compete with potential customers domestically and in other parts of the world.”
Economic clout growing
While the chamber’s efforts might have yielded few tangible results so far, talking about India is important, says Douglas Allen, director of global business programs for the Daniels School of Business at the University of Denver.
He said that China and India are eclipsing the U.S. in terms of economic size and middle-class buying power, making them critical economies to understand and to do business with.
“India isn’t on the radar screen for many businesses,” Allen said. “They have to be aware that India is an opportunity. The chamber plays a helpful role in that context.”
Staff writer Kimberly S. Johnson can be reached at 303-954-1088 or kjohnson@denverpost.com.
