Understanding cultural differences is key to making business partnerships between Yorkshire and India work: Minoti Parikh
I was raised to move quickly, speak plainly and go after what I wanted, because where I grew up, you learned early that nothing arrives without asking for it.
That instinct built my first business in India. I have since built a second in Yorkshire, and the same directness that served me well back in India has occasionally worked against me here, landing as pushy before anyone had the chance to understand where it comes from. I don't think that instinct is wrong, only that it needs translating, not softening.
This asymmetry matters now more than ever. West Yorkshire and India now trade close to £1 billion a year, up from £363 million in 2022, and Mayor Tracy Brabin recently joined the largest UK trade delegation ever, sent to India. The opportunity is real, but opportunity alone does not build lasting partnerships. Trade agreements can open doors. People still have to walk through them.
Too often, hospitality gets mistaken for desperation, and the bias runs in both directions. A warm welcome in India can be read as eagerness to please, rather than what it actually is, a cultural style of generosity. Equally, when a Yorkshire business asks for details and clarity before committing, that is not coldness or a lack of trust, it is simply how care is shown here.
India is often described through its scale, its population, its growth, its expanding middle class. All of that is true. But India is not a 'market' waiting to be entered. India is everything, all the time. It is deeply traditional and relentlessly modern, extraordinary wealth sitting beside visible poverty, global businesses beside family enterprises. There is no single formula, and looking for one misses the point.
There is a small but telling example in language itself. In India, the word 'help' often carries an assumption the work will be done for free. In Yorkshire, offering to help usually signals intent to support, not an absence of payment. Neither instinct is wrong. But mistaking one for the other has quietly derailed more partnerships than any commercial disagreement ever could.
This works both ways. Indian businesses coming into Yorkshire need to understand the place they are entering just as much, its own identity, humour and particular way of building trust. Successful partnerships ask for curiosity and adaptation from both sides, not one.
None of this is advice. I don't believe in telling anyone how businesses in India or Yorkshire should behave, both places are far too varied for a single formula. What I do believe, from lived experience rather than theory, is that the strongest partnerships treat every conversation as one between equals. Not a market to be entered, not a favour to be granted, but two parties bringing something genuinely valuable to the table, each taking time to understand how the other measures that value.
The businesses that benefit most from this moment will not be the ones with the sharpest pitch or the fastest introduction. They will be the ones willing to sit with the discomfort of not immediately understanding each other, and to stay curious long enough to find out. That, more than any trade figure, is what will make this partnership last.
Born and raised in India, Minoti Parikh is founder of Yorkshire-based TPL Consultancy, which supports organisations in building thriving teams and cultures.