INDIA

More and more people are trying to find happiness in India. While before mainly IT consultants went to India, now different sectors are attracting expats. India has a length of 3250 kilometres viewed from north to south. Mumbai and Bangalore can be found on the west coast. These two cities are the leaders in the transformation of India into a modern state. 

Climate and weather:
India  knows a winter-, summer- and  a monsoon period.  The winter period is from November until March, summer starts in April and  continues until June with May as the hottest month. The Monsoon period starts often on June and end in September. Temperatures could decrease to beneath 10 C  and rise 40 C°.

From a business point of view you have to consider a few things when you travel to India:

• Traditional greeting is done by placing the palms together and the thumbs pointing up under the chin. A slight lowering of the head and uttering Namaste.
• Embraces, pats, kisses are not done. Gestures of affection are not allowed in public.
• Indians often sway their head from left to right in a meeting This means noting more  than that they understand what has been said.
• Prefer talking about climate, art, life in other countries and cinema and avoid poverty, religion and relations with Pakistan.
• There is no after dinner session for talking business. All is said during dinner.
• Left hand is dirty, use only your right hand while eating with the hands.

Facts and Figures
Capital: New Delhi
Area: 3.287.590 km², 95 x Nederland
Inhabitants: 1,166,079,217
Timezone: GMT/UTC +5.5
Currency: Indian Rupee (Rs)
Languages: English (official), Hindi (official), Bengali (official),Telugu (official),Marathi (official) and 9 other official languages

Links:
http://www.travelsource.nl/destin/asia/india/india.asp
http://www.indianembassy.org/indiainfo/