India Desk
Finding the right partner in India and fixing the channel you already have are the same problem at two different moments.
We identify and verify distributors, agents and commercial partners, and where a channel is already in place and no longer working, we audit it, renegotiate it and rebuild it around where your product actually sells.
We do not send a directory of names. Every candidate is checked for sector experience, geographic coverage, existing portfolio and financial standing before you meet them, and we attend the first meeting with you.
No presence yet, or a first attempt that did not take. You need distributors, agents or buyers who are genuinely capable in your category, verified before you spend a week meeting them.
Revenue has plateaued, pricing varies by region in ways nobody signed off on, and the distributor knows more about your customers than you do. The relationship needs restructuring rather than abandoning.
The problem
A distributor relationship that made sense on day one is rarely the one the business needs three years later, and by then it is difficult to see clearly from Europe.
The company does not know who its own end customers are. Pricing varies by region in ways nobody approved. Premium positioning erodes because nobody controls how the product is presented at the point of sale.
Over 85 percent of consumer purchases in India still move through distributors, wholesalers and retail dealers rather than direct or organised channels, so the relationship usually is not optional to fix. It has to be renegotiated, restructured, or run alongside a direct channel rather than abandoned outright.
The distributors themselves often feel the strain too. A Retailers Association of India survey found 63 percent felt largely invisible to the brands they represented, unrewarded for performance and unclear about what was actually expected of them.
Which is why the two halves of this page belong together. Finding a better partner without fixing the structure repeats the problem with a new name on it, and restructuring a channel usually means bringing new partners into it.
What we deliver
Most companies need some of both. We scope only the parts that apply to where you actually are.
A longlist of candidates with proven networks in your product category, narrowed to a shortlist you actually meet. Screened on sector experience, geographic coverage, existing portfolio and financial standing.
Legal standing, trade references, financial position, and genuine interest confirmed at decision maker level rather than assumed from a polite first reply.
An introduction is not complete when names are exchanged. We are in the first meeting to give context, read the room and interpret what is actually being said.
Where you are selling into rather than through India, we connect you with buyers who have real procurement budgets and purchasing authority, not contact forms.
Where the route in requires a partner rather than a distributor, we identify candidates with aligned intent and operational capacity, and stay involved through early negotiation.
Distribution and agency contracts drafted by Onesto Legal in Delhi, with territory, exclusivity, targets, data rights and termination written so they are enforceable in India.
A clear picture of where your product actually sells today, by region and by channel, and where the distributor relationship is helping growth versus limiting it.
New terms, new territory splits, or a phased move toward more direct control, handled without disrupting the relationships still generating revenue.
A structure combining direct, distributor led and digital routes where each makes sense, rather than treating the original entry channel as permanent.
Mechanisms to hold consistent pricing and brand presentation across regions and partners, closing the gap between your intended positioning and what customers actually see.
Data sharing terms and reporting structures that show you who is actually buying, not just how much moved through the channel last quarter.
Rollout of the new structure with reporting in place, so channel performance stays visible rather than reverting to a black box after six months.
What makes it work
The distributor easiest to find is rarely the one best positioned. Reaching them is not the difficult part. Knowing which ones are worth your time is.
How it runs
Which stages apply depends on whether you are appointing a channel or repairing one. Most engagements use four of the five.
Product, volumes, price point and target regions. Where a channel already exists, current performance mapped by region, partner and route.
Longlist built and screened, or a revised channel structure designed around where your product and price point actually fit.
Two to five verified candidates, references taken, and meetings in India that we attend with you.
Terms, territory and targets agreed, and the agreement drafted. Where an existing relationship is being restructured, we lead or support that conversation directly.
Rollout and the first ninety days of the relationship managed, with reporting mechanisms in place so performance stays visible.
Who this is for
Common questions
General guidance rather than advice on a particular situation. Timelines vary by category, price point and region.
For most categories we identify and vet a shortlist of two to five candidates within four to eight weeks of receiving a clear brief. Consumer and food products with established import and retail channels move faster. Industrial and technical products with specific service or certification requirements take longer.
We give you a realistic timeline at the start of the engagement rather than an optimistic one.
Usually not, and usually you should not. In most of the cases we see, the relationship is generating real revenue in some regions and failing in others, and the correct answer is a renegotiation of terms and territory rather than a termination.
Terminating an Indian distributor without preparing for it can also carry legal and commercial consequences, so it is a decision to take with the agreement and the local position in front of you.
Whoever the contract says, and in practice whoever holds the contact details. This is the single most common reason a plateaued India business cannot be fixed quickly.
We structure agreements so that customer data, pricing visibility and the right to appoint additional channels stay with you, and where an existing agreement does not do that, recovering it is part of the renegotiation.
It depends on your product, your service requirements and how much management attention you can give the market. A single national appointment is simpler and slower, and it concentrates risk in one relationship. Regional appointments give better coverage and better pricing discipline, but they need someone in India managing them.
India is not one market, so a partner who dominates the west may be genuinely irrelevant in the south. That is usually the argument against national exclusivity in the first agreement.
Company registration and legal standing, filed financials where available, trade references taken from both suppliers and customers, physical visits to premises and warehousing where the volume justifies it, and confirmation of genuine interest from the person who will actually decide rather than the person who replied.
For a first appointment we recommend it, and we arrange the shortlist so that a single trip covers the meetings that matter. We attend with you. Where travel is not possible in the first phase, we can run the meetings on your behalf and report back, though the relationship generally starts better when a principal has been in the room.
Yes. Onesto Legal is our in house practice in New Delhi, so the agreement is drafted by the same team that ran the search. Territory, exclusivity, targets, pricing, data rights, term and termination are written to be enforceable in India rather than adapted from a European template.
Related
Feasibility, entity, licensing and launch, for companies with no presence yet.
Read more →When the subsidiary exists, the headcount exists, and the growth does not.
Read more →Your India office until you have your own, with a named person accountable.
Read more →Distribution agreements, disputes and recovery, from our own advocates in Delhi.
Read more →Write to us
A short note on your product, your price point, the regions you care about and what your channel looks like today. That is enough for us to say whether you have a partner problem, a structure problem, or both.
We answer from New Delhi and from Bilbao, so European clients are not waiting a day for a reply.
Onesto Management Consultancy
New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Bilbao