“No change in our India plans”

Given the changes in the economic environment, Campaign India was curious to find out if two international players, who had announced their intent to enter the Indian market, were still considering doing so. In an exclusive conversation with Campaign India, Naked Communications’ Jon Wilkins feels the situation plays well to the Naked model. 

Considering the changes in the economic environment, are your India plans still on track? Is there any re-thinking or postponement?

We are still very keen to keep our plans on track, and still have a number of conversations with talent and clients. We always said we would open when these two aspects fall into place, and we have not set a fixed deadline for achieving this.

Is a presence in India now more imperative than it was before the meltdown?

The Indian economy will be also suffer as a result of the economic problems, but relatively she will fair better than many. Clearly the local economy is still growing, and as the market is relatively less reliant at its core on export say versus China, things will be better in India than for many countries. Regarding whether opening in India is more imperative, I don’t think so. Its always been important and always will be. India has an incredibly robust local market, and it would be interesting to see if the slowdown in anyway dampens or accelerates Indian businesses’ desire to expand into other markets. Obviously one area that’s important for us is the Indian entrepreneurial spirit and the desire for global expansion and thus a global strategic partner to help them do this.

(To read the entire interview with Naked's Jon Wilkins, check out Page 8 of Campaign India's emag here. )