The first chapter explores the market entry of Germany’s large multinationals, exemplified by a detailed analysis of the electrical company Siemens and the chemical company Bayer, the two companies that pioneered German business with India in the 1870s. It shows how these large German players initially followed in their British rival’s footsteps and used the institutional advantages that British firms had. In the absence of discriminatory legislation against them, German big business became increasingly more successful as they learned to capitalize on the long-established links that Britain sustained with India. This happened at the same time that they first developed a self-understanding as “German” businesses. The chapter shows that the concept of “nationality” sits uneasily with the realities of these early endeavors in India and traces how nationalism slowly emerged as a topic of discussion.