The excitement of moving to a new country, meeting people, eating different food, learning a new language, experiencing local culture, and, more importantly, integrating in society—I carried these feelings along with lots of goodies in my suitcase that still remind me of how my home in India came with me on my new assignment.
During my recent survey of India, I visited Chennai. The city is located on India’s east coast and has growing automotive, industrial, and technology sectors. Behind the strength of this, the city government has invested in its infrastructure to alleviate traffic, reduce commuting times, and increase available housing units, including many expatriate-focused housing complexes along the attractive coastline.
Driving down the four-lane highway from Bangalore’s airport to the city centre, our progress slowed. The road ahead narrowed to two lanes due to bridges that the government has found prohibitively expensive to wide. Arriving after a full day of travel, my trip suddenly became that much longer as we trudged through traffic on the way to my hotel. I could see why assignees desire to live near their offices.
The Bandra Kurla Complex in Mumbai, referred to by many as BKC, has continued to develop and is fast becoming the new business and residential heart of Mumbai. Originally intended to serve as an alternate business district to help decongest south Mumbai, commercial office stock has increased at phenomenal rates in the past five years. BKC now houses India’s Stock Exchange and the Indian headquarters of many large multinational companies.
Mumbai has long been known as a city with high levels of air pollution from the choking congestion and horrendous traffic conditions. During my recent survey, I confirmed that this reputation has yet to change! The construction of the elevated lines of the Mumbai Metro project continues to aggravate traffic problems along SV Road in the expat areas of Bandra, Santa Cruz, and Khar. Additionally, rush-hour gridlock in Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) is being impacted by the work on the BKC Metro station project where there will be a new Metro Line 3 and 2B interchange.
During my November 2018 survey, the dollar-to-rupee exchange rate showed minimal fluctuation. When I exchanged money in my hotel in Mumbai, I received new, crisp green 500- and pink 2000-rupee banknotes, along with the older, lower denomination notes of 10-,20-, and 100-rupees. Throughout the five major cities that I surveyed, all the 500- and 2000-rupee banknotes that I transacted were part of the new series.
The “one nation, one tax” (India GST) policy was intended to make trade among India’s twenty-nine states and seven union territories easier and faster.
The Indian government has presented a 2017/2018 budget that includes several tax changes affecting individual taxpayers.
To be able to support business objectives effectively, global mobility teams need to focus on three areas — developing the right set of policies that effectively support...
