Day 1: Mumbai

And so after a combined total of more than 650 hours of travel time—that’s in transit to the airport, sitting in the airport, sitting on a plane, trying to sleep while babies cried and kicked in the seat behind you, and finally, of course, sitting in the not-so-free flowing traffic which is so characteristic of Mumbai, India—the participants of the GSB India Study Trip all arrived safely and on time.

One great way to think of this is that 650 hours equates to about four months of lost productivity from a collective GSB mind, which we’ll of course remind you, represents a prominent and influential future world business leader—or something like that. Of course, arriving on time didn’t always necessarily mean arriving with enough time to sleep more than a few short hours before our first fully packed day of meetings. Not to be deterred by a lack of sleep though, all India Study Trippers were on time in the lobby of the ITC Sheraton in Parel, dressed in our finest business regalia, and herded onto our VIP transport vehicle.

Fifteen minutes later, whilst stuck in chaotic rush hour Mumbai traffic, we hear the bus driver shout out nine reassuring words, “does anyone here know how to drive a bus?” Unfortunately, this was not a joke. The driver couldn’t get the bus into first gear because the clutch had broken. Within moments, a tow truck appeared dragging our bus to the side of the road, allowing us to disembark and search for alternative transportation. Prashant and Tarun and the other leaders did an amazing job hailing down half a dozen auto rickshawwallah’s whilst dozens of locals standing outside the shops stared and pointed at us in amazement.

“Does anyone here know how to drive a bus?”

Our first meeting of the day was with Suendra Hiranandani, managing director of the Hiranandani Group, the country’s largest real estate development firm. We were given a magnificent tour of their primary development, Powai, containing residential and commercial space including its own lake, hospital, school, restaurants, retail stores, bowling alley and most importantly go-kart track. Mr Hiranandani gave us an overview of his operations and spoke on real estate trends in India, pushing forward world-class construction standards, and starting an empire from only a few thousand dollars twenty years ago. Very impressive stuff.

Visiting a call centre operations hub; part of the Hiranandani empire

Kishore Biyani, our second meeting, is fondly described as the Sam Walton of India. He has led a large conglomeration of various businesses over the last 20 years. His self-described mission is to provide everything that consumers want to buy. It started with the first branded retail clothing line in India, Pantaloon, and has now expanded to include many other businesses and products, even financial services). He also believes that future of business lies in what he calls the “creative economy”, as opposed to a past that was steeped in routine and process optimization. He believes that as technology automates more processes in our lives, a premium is going to be placed on creativity and originality, and the market will respond correspondingly.

The Group with Kishore Biyani

The final meeting of the day was with Shabana Azmi, a famous Bollywood actress, former member of India Parliament and ongoing activist on issues such as education and gender equality. She was highly inspiring, articulating personal stories of her motivation and her vision for the role of Government, media and non-profit sectors in tackling India’s many social issues.

Shabana Azmi: Bollywood actress, Politician and Activist

The evening ended for many with a trip to a local club - the Mumbai version of Tao in New York. Our top heavy boy / girl ratio almost prevented us getting in but fortunately we were in possession of the ‘skeleton key’ (a.k.a. British accent) which as any English man knows, opens any door. For the rest of the group, an early night recovering from jet lag proved to be a more attractive option...

When Lior gets that crazy look in his eyes, you know one drink ain't going to be enough