The Sunday Times FT - Pig farms and kimchi, Hyundai makes a home in India

In the auto industry, carving out a place in India is in vogue as its population of more than 1 billion promises big returns for future business.

Few have taken to the task as literally as Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea's biggest automobile company.

Determined to make its 60-some Korean employees feel at home in the southern Indian city of Chennai, Hyundai is raising 50 white Yorkshire pigs and growing vegetables alongside its car and engine factories, offering its expatriates familiar cuisine.

Pork is rare in Chennai, formerly called Madras, where many people are vegetarian. For Koreans, who depend on the meat for much of their protein intake, that's a tough adjustment to make.

And adjusting is key, Hyundai says, because with more than $1 billion earmarked for its Indian operations, the world's sixth-biggest car maker is here for the long haul.

“We're pretty self-sufficient here,” said Park Han-woo, executive director of Hyundai Motor India, adding the project was the brainchild of company chairman Chung Mong-koo. “We have plans to make the farmhouse even bigger and more beautiful.”

In addition to the scallions, peppers and radish grown at the lush 13,000 sq metre (139,900 sq ft) farm, the company arranges two grocery shipments a year from South Korea that expatriate workers from all Hyundai group firms in Chennai order by email.

In-house cooks have been schooled in preparing Korean meals. The daily spread at the Korean canteen consists of typical national fare: kimchi -- a dish of spicy, pickled cabbage -- vegetables marinated in sesame oil, spicy soups and other offerings using herbs grown at the Hyundai farm. “Adjusting here is really easy,” said Suh Sang-won, a manager at a Hyundai group firm in Chennai. “They do a good job in making us comfortable.”

Hyundai has been promoting local staff -- which number almost 4,000 -- to managerial posts at its offices in Chennai, New Delhi and Mumbai.But it still needs back-up from home for its relatively new and growing operations.

By 2008, the maker of the popular Santro hatchback plans to double its production capacity in India to 600,000 cars.

It's already the country's top automobile exporter and number-two car brand behind Maruti Udyog Ltd. despite having entered the market late, in 1998.

Ford Motor Co. takes the opposite approach by expecting all its staff -- from the managing director to factory floor workers -- to share the same canteen serving Indian food. Its staff, including the chief executive, are mostly Indian.

Hyundai, whose Indian operations are more than 10 times that of Ford's, says its gastronomical arrangements do not mean that its staff are sheltered from the local culture.

All Korean employees new to India go through an induction course to learn about local etiquette and working conditions. They can also dine in the canteen that serves Indian fare if they choose and the Indian staff can also try out Korean food.

Like any car maker eager to win over the community where it manufactures, Hyundai has been busy making a mark in Chennai by making a donation of 3.5 million rupees ($75,410) this year for the renovation of Madras University under its Hyundai Motor India Foundation. It has also funded a cultural centre to introduce residents of Chennai to Korean art and dancing. School children sometimes have outings at the Hyundai farm, which is also home to canaries, carp, and the occasional cobra caught on site and put on display.

“We take this market very seriously,” said Lheem. “We have big plans for India.”