Traveling to India on business - what gifts to take?

[IronWing]

Dutch ovens for everybody.

 

[rudder]

Beef jerky... and lots of it.

 

[vailr]

Custom logo USB thumb drives for everyone!

 

[radhak]

i dunno man, when i bring back ferrero rocher or almond rocas, the offshore team eats that shit up like it was gold.

also, the staff greatly prefers milk chocolate over dark.

No sh__. Chocolate is always welcome. My suggestion was only taking off OP's wish to take something not easily available there.

Had a coworker in our division come from India for familiarization and stuff. When he flew home he brought a lot of Ben Gay.

I guess you can get it there but it's like 5x the price per tube.

This too. While you can get the exact-same product there, the cost would obviously be exorbitant, being a direct import.

THANK YOU! This was a super helpful answer. You don't think there's any problem bringing across homemade treats through customs? I love the idea of bringing something I've actually made.

Yeah, I'm bringing some special gifts for some boss-types and a few super-helpful people on the team to recognize their efforts.

I was also thinking of bringing a few other things - some special tea mixes, little bottles of hand lotions from a local producer, I dunno, stuff like that. There are quite a few women on the team and I could see that going over very well.

Youarewelcome.
Nope - customs don't worry about home-made or store-bought. (of course, liquid or gel stuff still gets thrown away), and will be very welcome by the recipients. Make sure you tell them you made it yourself (even if your mom did!) - doubly impressive, particularly because there's a common myth there that Americans can only operate the microwave !

I think you are on the right track - those small stuff would make the day for many.

One more thing - you could ask the ones you are close to if they need anything specific. They will never want anything big or expensive, and then only if it was very essential. I remember somebody requested a bottle of Excedrin for his wife, and was extremely grateful for it, and another wanted a special type of baby-bottle. Took me 5 minutes at CVS, but made their lives easier.

 

[Xcobra]

When I was there (well, Kolkata), the team loved company branded knick-knacks like hats, pens, shirts, etc. Definitely consider bringing some of those with you.

 

[Herr Kutz]

Bring them photos of the Americans they replaced.

 

[dabuddha]

Wow. You guys are so funny. Hilarious. Finally one of our long term female members comes out of the shadows to say hi and tell us she's going on a trip to India, and we joke about RAPE in a country SHE IS GOING TO.

Whose joking?

 

[Sinsear]

Bring them photos of the Americans they replaced.

Lol

 

[Jeffg010]

condoms

 

[mikeford]

Selfie printed with a personal message.