My glossary of Indian business terms

[please note I do not own the above photo but I did almost use it for work – therefore I feel that makes it an authentic part of my Fellowship experience.]

Some useful business terms

Updation = update

“Rahul, have you completed the updation on the system?”

Learnings = lessons

“What are the key learnings you have taken from this pilot?”

Actionables = tasks

“Sita, please send me the actionables from the latest report.”

Download = background information

“Did you give Abhishek a download about the programme?”

The communities = poor people

“Let’s give our employees greater exposure to the communities.”

Keen = would like

“I am keen to attend this event.”

Impactfulness = effects

“Mr. Patel will be documenting the impactfulness of the programme.”

Corporates = big business

“Many NGOs need funding from corporates.”

For future = for future use

“Many of the learnings will be helpful for future.”

cum = that also functions as a

“We will introduce debitcumATM cards for the communities.”

Come = please accompany me

“Come for lunch?” “Come for meeting?”

Lunch = the daily noontime potluck

“I really enjoyed Sonya’s daal and Rajeev’s wife’s aloo at lunch.”

Mail = email

“Deepak has sent you a mail about the actionables.”

Revert = reply

“Please revert to my mail post meetingcumdiscussion.”

Pager = page

“It’s just a three pager document.”

specific timelines = vague plans

“Mr. Chatterjee  wrote down the specific timelines on a napkin at lunch.”

comfortable with = going to allow

“I’m not comfortable with most of these ideas.”

The needful = [as far as I can tell, this just doesn’t mean anything.]

Person A: “Please do the needful.”

Hilary: “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Person A: “Oh crap you’re right.  I don’t know either.”


Some phrases that usually don’t mean anything:

“and this was done in an effort”

“We provided a feedback form and this was done in an effort to improve the efficacy of the programme.”

“with a eye”

“We provided a feedback form with an eye to improve the efficacy of the programme.”

“to the tune of”

“We received to the tune of 3,458 applications.”

“be a pioneering initiative to”

“This will be a pioneering initiative to develop new products for the market.”

Hope these help!

Author

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