[Kim Heeyoon’s Bookshelf] The Refrigerator Was Lifted Into the Sky... The Sweet Illusion of "1.4 Billion India"

Shin Siyeol’s “Meeting Opportunities in India”
Insights on India from a Former ShopCJ Executive
"Investment over exports, relationships over speed"

The refrigerator was lifted into the sky. It was the day Shin Siyeol, then the head of CJ O Shopping's Indian subsidiary, moved into his local residence. The Samsung double-door refrigerator brought from Korea couldn't fit into the apartment elevator. The apartment was on the fourth floor. A local employee told him not to worry. Instead of a ladder truck, eight workers soon arrived. They looped ropes and pulleys around the refrigerator, which was still unwrapped, and slowly hoisted it up the exterior wall of the building.

Shin Siyul, CEO of CNS Nature and author of 'Finding Opportunities in India.' Photo by Hoyoung Han

He remembers this scene as his first real lesson in understanding the Indian market. "Since labor is so cheap, instead of using a ladder truck, they just brought in eight workers. That's why factory automation is not a straightforward issue in India." There are societies where machines are more rational, and ones where people are the more cost-effective solution. Even for the same problem, when the order of price and time changes, the answer can be entirely different.

Shin has been in charge of marketing and distribution at companies such as Kodak's U.S. headquarters, CJ, and Hansol. From 2012, he led ShopCJ, CJ O Shopping's Indian joint venture, for about five years. His new book, "Meeting Opportunities in India," is less of a report on India’s prospects and more an account of trial and error learned from hiring people, selling products, and managing an organization on the ground. He began the interview by saying, "Even as someone deeply familiar with India, I find it an extremely challenging and tough market."

Korean companies often start with numbers when they talk about India: a population of 1.4 billion, a young workforce, a high growth rate. While these aren't wrong, they aren't enough. Shin is especially wary of thinking in terms like, "If we sell just one scrubber per person, that's 1.4 billion units." India is divided into 28 states, each with different languages, religions, incomes, and distribution networks. Uttar Pradesh alone has a population of over 200 million. He points out, "Even in a state with over 200 million people, a single STP (Segmentation, Targeting, Positioning) strategy doesn’t work."

Pricing is also a challenge. Last year in New Delhi, a female cosmetics buyer grinned and told him, "I really want to import Korean products—but at Chinese prices." Shin laughed and responded that he would do his best, but as soon as he turned away, he said it made his head spin. Buyers want Korean quality at Chinese prices. If you can’t bridge that gap, entry into India’s consumer goods market quickly gets blocked.

But there are other stories as well. In 2014, at a hotel restaurant, he saw a woman hand out identical Gucci tote bags to her eight college-aged nieces. She said she bought eight of the exact same product so there wouldn’t be any fights. A buyer wanting Korean products at Chinese prices and a family distributing eight luxury bags at one table—both realities coexist in India. This is a country impossible to define by averages.

The pace of work is also different. "No problem" isn’t always a guarantee that there’s actually no problem. "One minute, sir" might mean an hour, or even the next day. The Indian gesture of nodding one’s head from side to side to show understanding can look like a refusal to Koreans. Initially, Shin also interpreted this as lying or laziness. But he learned that in India, a boss who gets angry is seen not as competent, but as someone unable to control their emotions. A principle he has repeatedly emphasized in both his book and interviews is simple: "Never lose your temper."

However, this is not a book that glorifies taking it easy as a virtue. The waiting Shin describes is not a matter of attitude, but a strategy. Korean companies want quick sales and profits, but India is not a market that opens up so easily. It took a long time even for companies like Samsung, LG, and Hyundai Motor to put down roots after entering in the mid-1990s. He notes, "It's difficult if all you want is to get in for a bit and make a quick profit."

Production line at Hyundai Motor India's Pune plant, established in Maharashtra, India. According to CEO Shin Si-yeol, the core of the Indian business is closer to "taking root deeply over a long time" rather than "selling quickly." It means that this is not a market where sales are generated just by exporting products, but a market where relationships must be proven through production and investment. Hyundai Motor Group

This is why he cautions against the phrase "Next China." The expectation hidden in that phrase is that India can be cracked wide open by mass exports, as was the case with China. Every year, there is a trade imbalance between Korea and India, with Korean products continuing to flow in and creating structural deficits on the Indian side. Shin argues that Korean firms shouldn’t just focus on selling goods—they need to invest together in factories, industrial complexes, infrastructure, and financial sectors. "We have to act as real partners in the same boat."

The same approach applies to India in the era of AI. India has strong software talent, while Korea's forte is manufacturing and hardware. Using data centers as an example, Shin points out that GPUs, cooling units, power equipment, cables, and machinery are all essential. If India is a country of AI talent, Korea can find its point of connection in providing the physical backbone to support that AI. It’s not about abstract cooperation, but about factories, electricity, and equipment.

Asked what India means to him, he paused for a moment and replied that it is a market, a teacher, and a second home. He added, "It's a huge and very promising market, but it’s not some snack or bread I can just grab a quick bite out of. You have to genuinely like the people there, live side-by-side, and grow together."

This may sound naive. But for Shin, sincerity isn’t just about having a good heart. It means being the first to enter, enduring for a long time, and bearing losses while adjusting to the other's pace. In the end, the refrigerator did make it up to the fourth floor. Eight people held the ropes from below, while someone above pulled it up little by little. Shin says that the Indian market, too, can only be reached in this way.

Meeting Opportunities in India | Written by Shin Siyeol | E-Con | 240 pages

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.