Indian companies have a hunger to tap new markets around the world: Rodolfo Lara

NEW DELHI: India’s rising companies are much more interested in tapping international markets than their global peers, the World Economic Forum has found through its initiative to identify 100-odd global growth companies which includes 17 Indian firms including new economy businesses such as Flipkart, Makemytrip, Justdial, Olacabs as well as brick and mortar firms like Forbes Marshall and new banking licence holder Bandhan Financial Services.

“Indian companies strike me as the most internationally minded companies. When a company has a very large home market, normally they tend to stay domestic for years before going abroad,” Rodolfo Lara, head of the Forum’s Global Growth Companies program that identifies firms with potential to become top players in their sectors, told ET. But unlike mid-size businesses from China, Brazil, Indian challengers have a hunger to tap new markets around the world.

“That is something interesting. Most of us think they can continue to grow as India is a very large market with lots of opportunities. But they are also hungry to go into other markets,” said Lara, stressing that he hasn’t seen this phenomenon in other countries.

At a closed door session with top honchos from these 17 firms on Tuesday, a lot of them talked about expanding their operations overseas and articulated concerns about uncertain regulatory frameworks around the world.

The global growth companies from India were unveiled at the summit on Wednesday, and include players from diverse sectors such as commercial bank Ratnakar Bank, biotech firm Avesthagen, cable player Finolex, Centrum Electronics, Transasia Bio-Medical, real estate player Sobha and component maker Nash Industries.