The Spain-India Business Bridge of My Most Trusted,
a national and global super-community of
90,568
trusted connections in our Trusted Universe, November 2026
Spain · India
Sobremesa. The time spent at the table after a meal in Spain, talking, long after the plates are cleared.
Take a tour of the Spain-India Bridge The people at each end
The Spain-India Business Bridge is for Spanish companies that want clients, partners or suppliers in India, and for Indian companies that want to work in Spain and the rest of Europe with someone to vouch for them.
The two economies are closer than they have ever been. India and the European Union concluded their free trade agreement in 2026, and Spanish engineering already flies out of India: the C295 transport aircraft, designed in Spain, is now assembled in Vadodara. What is still missing is the personal route in, someone on each side who knows who to call and will put their name to the introduction.
It is also where careers move. Members in Spain and India sometimes meet their next client, their next employer or their next hire here, because the best opportunities often come through someone a trusted person recommends.
Business in Spain and in India both start with the relationship and only then reach the contract. Each side of this Bridge has its own host, living there, who knows how decisions are really made at home.
SpainMadrid
Ralph Hays holds the Spanish end of the Bridge, from Madrid. He spent more than nine years with New Zealand Trade and Enterprise, as New Zealand's Trade Commissioner for Brazil and Consul General in São Paulo, and then as Trade Commissioner for South Asia and Consul General in Mumbai until 2023. He went on to head trade and investment work at VFS Global in Dubai, helping government trade agencies, chambers of commerce and companies expand into new markets. Since 2025 he has been Director of International Business Development for ITUS Group, building partnerships between India and Europe in defence, maritime safety, search and rescue, and emergency services. He holds an MBA in marketing and international business from Massey University, and was born in Invercargill, New Zealand.
More about RalphIndiaseat open
The founding India host seat is open. One person in India will hold this side. Someone Indian business already trusts, who knows how to open doors in Europe and wants to welcome the first members personally.
Talk to us about itA plain guide for Spanish firms looking at India, and for Indian firms looking at Spain. Why cold outreach stalls, where trust really comes from in both markets, and how a named introduction opens the door faster than a trade fair.
Read What is sobremesa, and why does business in Spain and India start at the table?Sobremesa is the Spanish habit of staying at the table to talk after a meal. India has its own version, chai pe charcha. What both say about how deals really get made, and how to earn a seat at that table when you do not know anyone yet.
Through an introduction from someone both sides trust, since in India, as in Spain, the relationship comes before the contract. The Spain-India Business Bridge, part of My Most Trusted, makes those introductions. Its Spanish end is held in Madrid by Ralph Hays, a former New Zealand Consul General in Mumbai. Read more
Sobremesa is the Spanish habit of staying at the table after a meal to talk, often for an hour or more. India's equivalent is chai pe charcha, talk over tea. In both countries that is where people decide whom to trust, which is why the Spain-India Business Bridge, part of My Most Trusted, starts every connection with a personal introduction. Read more
Ralph Hays holds the Spanish end from Madrid. He was New Zealand's Trade Commissioner for South Asia and Consul General in Mumbai, and is now Director of International Business Development at ITUS Group. The India host seat is open. The Bridge is part of My Most Trusted's wider super-community.
In Spain the meal is only half of lunch. The other half is the sobremesa: coffee, perhaps a glass of something, and an hour of conversation nobody hurries. It is where people find out who each other really are, and where a good deal of Spanish business quietly gets decided. India knows the same moment as chai pe charcha, the talk over tea that comes before any proposal. Both countries trust people before paperwork. This Bridge makes the introduction that gets you to that table.