Taking the services business further, Delassard has also cashed in on foreigners who need to register their visit in India, according to procedure. In the Foreigner’s Registration Office in RK Puram, Delhi the queue is long and it’s not unusual to see foreigners crying in frustration when they’re asked to return the next day. Delassard guarantees the foreigners the process will take an hour only and has hired people to do the running around. She says business is booming for her, in real estate, packing-moving, and visa processes.  “People talk of a recession. I say what recession?” she grins.

The biggest gripe of foreigners in India is bureaucratic hassles besides the occasional cultural conflict that makes life difficult. “We had to wait endlessly for a liquor licence,” says Choi Young Jin, 32, co-owner of K2, a popular Korean restaurant in Gurgaon, that’s just over a year old. Jin first came to India in 1996 as a tourist and then in 2006, when she decided to start a restaurant here with her brother, Choi Byung Jun. K2 is a cheerful space, done in black and red. Jin works from 11.30 am to 11.30 pm and samples all the food her Nepali cook produces (he was trained by a Korean chef).

The going was hard to begin with since the siblings speak very little English, but they fit in quickly with Gurgaon’s global food culture and the restaurant’s Karaoke nights are a huge success. They’re enthusiastic about future prospects and are planning another K2 in Noida next. “Establishing standards is difficult sometimes but you have to be firm,” says Jin. Samai also faces staff issues with most of her trained masseurs moving to The Oberoi and the Ananda Spa right after she spends two months training them. “I’ve started signing contracts but if they move there’s little I can do,” she says. Samai says she just doesn’t understand how sometimes people just don’t land up for work, and don’t call either. “So what if it’s raining?” she questions. Delassard changed 14 real estate partners before zeroing in on her current associate whom she’s been working with for over a year now. “We have a good understanding. He finds the houses, I find the clients and we split the commission,” she says. If foreigners out there were worried about their jobs fleeing to India, it’s time they chased them. “I go back to France every year. After two weeks I’m itching to get back,” says Delassard.
(With inputs from Gopu Mohan in Chennai and Deepa Venkatraman in Mumbai.)

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