My First Interaction with the Indian Civil Service – whoops!

In my first couple of weeks doing PE in India (back in Jan 2007) I was sent to Delhi to the Department of Telecom to attend an initial meeting on an auction by the government of rural telecom tower infrastructure sites (the USO tender).  Walking into an Indian Government building was a new experience for me – both in terms of the general quality of the building as well as the types of people that reside within them.  The meeting was interesting and was basically two Civil Servants speaking to about 50 people associated with telecom companies in India that wanted to make a bid for the USO contract.  The meeting was relatively short and conducted well but what really hit me was the “respect” that the industry guys poured over the government guys.  I signed my name on the attendance sheet and shook hands with the government guys.  My approach was a casual hello and that’s it – no formalities.  On the other hand, everyone else addressed the government guys with a “sir” or “sirji.” 

 

The funny part was that I received a call from the junior Civil Servant I met at the meeting a week later informing me that I needed to send somebody to pick up the official bid documents in Delhi within a defined two hour window the next day.  Obviously, being in Mumbai, I told the guy that I wouldn’t be able to but maybe he could just courier it to me in Mumbai, or I could just download it from the web.  WRONG!  He got a little “irritated” and demanded to know if “I knew who [I was] dealing with” and that I was being disrespectful, etc.  I had the phone on speaker and the Partners of my firm were all laughing congratulating me on my first interaction with the Civil Service.  The key, apparently, is to act subservient and call the guy “sirji” apparently.  Also, I just needed to tell the guy I would pick up the document even if I wasn’t.  

 

Obviously their is a general hierarchical culture that the older generations are used to but this culture has changed significantly in the business world where performance now matters much more then seniority.  Additionally the perception of the Civil Service has dramatically fallen (in my generation) so it reinforces this tension.   For an ABCD who is not used to hierarchy or a distinguished view of the Civil Service, I get myself into trouble!