Jones Lang LaSalle’s James Knowles looks like any typical Hanover Square agent: suited, coiffured, and perspiration-free. This would be nothing unusual if the meeting with EG had been at the company’s Hanover Square HQ. But Knowles is JLL’s man in Mumbai — a city where temperatures average 37ºc in late May, car horns rule, traffic lights are a suggestion rather than a command and, it seems, the entire population of around 17.5m swarm the streets, night and day.
Presenting an Englishman abroad is a tactical move for the company. It opened an office in Mumbai, arguably India’s second city, six years ago. Following rivals Knight Frank and Cushman & Wakefield, which had arrived a year earlier, to capitalise on one of the world’s hottest office markets. The market has continued to attract interest, with more than 7m sq ft of offices taken up in deals with foreign companies last year alone, 2m in Mumbai.
By planting the only known English commercial agent in the city, JLL hoped to tap into the phenomenal interest from overseas companies in offshoring to India.
Whether or not placing a western agent in Mumbai rather than employing people with familiar faces and cultures is necessary for success is debatable. Indian heads of Knight Frank and Cushman & Wakefield laugh at the suggestion, while English-based agents sit on the fence.
For his part, Knowles says the plan is working. Since joining JLL in Mumbai a year ago, he says he has helped increase business by 300%. Around 80% of JLL’s business is dealing with companies — up to 70% from the US — outsourcing and offshoring operations.
Knowles believes there are advantages to having an English interface. “Foreign real estate executives relate to expats working in the company who understand the requirements needed. In the time I have been here, I have dealt with the same 10-15 corporate real estate heads in other Asian countries, as well as India. They can pick up the phone and know that they can get the same service any time,” he adds.
However, Chan Chakravarti, joint managing director of CW in Mumbai, 40% of whose clients are UK-based, says his company has no expats, “and deliberately so”. “Our parent company would rather concentrate on sending more business to us than worry about how we are functioning and delivering quality. They know they are assured of the best here,” he says.
Pranay Vakil, chairman of Knight Frank in Mumbai, agrees. He believes having an English person in the office “would make no amount of difference”. “Anyone coming from abroad would go through a huge learning curve in trying to interpret Indian laws, which are not straightforward,” he says. “Rarely do you find things falling into black or white. And then, of course, there is the language barrier.”
Vakil concedes that, if an expat could offer some knowledge that is not offered in India on a short-term basis, then he or she would be worth having.
Multinational companies
England-based agent Steve Mallen, head of global research at Knight Frank, says: “Inevitably, there are some companies that would prefer a western face. But again, it’s easy to over-exaggerate this need. We are dealing with multinational companies who are used to dealing with people from all walks of life.”
Knowles, who has worked in Thailand, Singapore and South Korea, admits that he could not suddenly change things simply because he is English. He places much praise on his colleagues, saying he would not be able to do his job if it was not for the backing of his fully Indian team. Occupiers themselves do not seem bothered about who they deal with.
“Some Indians do tend to be Anglophiles, and other Indians leverage the presence of expats to improve business prospects,” says Hemant Puthli, chief delivery officer with Deloitte in Mumbai. “I’d prefer to deal with people who are professional in their approach, regardless of their nationality or origin.”
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James Knowles, associate director for Jones Lang LaSalle, loves living in Mumbai, but admits that it can be tough. “Mumbai still lacks some of the modern elements of cities such as Hong Kong and Shanghai. Retail is still developing, and it lacks good shopping malls.” Knowles adds that “it can also be expensive”. At one point, Mumbai was ranked among the most expensive cities in the world, and it still is for residential accommodation. Apartments rent for £1.60 per sq ft per week compared with £1.30 in London. Agents are trying to pay good wages to meet the costs. While the pay does not quite reach the heady heights of London’s surveyors, managers and senior managers at Knight Frank, Mumbai, for example, earn between1.23m-1.64m Indian rupees per year — £15,000-£20,000 per year — including bonuses and incentives; good pay in comparison with other similar professionals. Credit-card salesmen in Mumbai earn an average 80,000 Indian rupeespa (£954). At Cushman & Wakefield, senior managers’ gross wage, with bonuses, can range from £16,500 pa up to £33,100 pa. Jones Lang LaSalle’s entry level for its Mumbai office for a 21-22-year old without experience is £2,197 pa. |
