CorpComms Magazine

While usually employed as the standard government advice to teenagers contemplating taking drugs, some of India's corporate communicators could also benefit from learning to Just Say No.

Ring up any of India's blue-chip companies, from all-encompassing conglomerate Reliance Industries to generic drug giant Ranbaxy, with a request and your call will almost certainly be dealt with by a friendly PR professional who sounds eager to help.

Not only are they extremely polite but they also seem very keen to meet your request: 'Interview the chief executive? Not a problem, would you prefer on the phone or in person. And of course we're happy to take you around our factory and talk you through our CSR policy.'

However, more often than not, you'll find out that yes doesn't always mean yes. Next time you call, the chief executive has come down with a mystery illness, and will be off work for the next week. Or the chairman is locked in meetings every time you ring up to schedule the interview. Is this just bad luck? Cynics might argue otherwise.

While it's frustrating having an interview request turned down, it's much worse being led up the garden path and holding out for a phantom interview that, in reality, is never going to happen.

Anyone who's travelled or done business in India before will not be too surprised by this ambiguity. It's the PR equivalent of the famed Indian sideways headshake, which sometimes means Yes, sometimes means No and, just as often, means I don't have a clue what you're talking about. Experienced India hands claim that it is decipherable to the initiated, but for everyone else, all you can do is sit back and hope for the best.

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