Multinational Enterprises in India and their Export Performance: The Case of Hindustan Lever Limited

The purpose of this paper is to look at the recent export performance of a number of leading multinational enterprises in India as a backdrop to providing a detailed case study of the working of one such enterprise, namely the Hindustan Level Limited, so as to provide a perspective on the Indian experience on the subject. The experience of exports by multinational enterprises from India reviewed in this paper with a detailed case study of the export performance and strategy of Hindustan Lever Ltd reveals that the exports by such companies would not have occurred but for the push given by the government policies ranging from incentives to export obligations. Growth of exports of these companies has to be seen as an integral part of the process of their adaptation for survival and growth in India. It is clear that their main objective of the multinational enterprises operating in developing countries is “profit” and, if directed into activities with sufficient long run profitability, such corporations will be able to change their operations to suit the new environment. Despite the technical, financial, marketing and personnel resources which these companies possess by virtue of being a part of the multinational enterprises, their export performance in India has, despite improvement in recent years, not yet been as good as their potential. The Government has to find ways and means to bargain with these units effectively on unit-to-unit basis taking into account the strengths and weaknesses of each of them if the full potential of these units in the field of exports is to be realized.