Most business in India seems to be done through loopholes and exceptions.
If I were to throw up a number for Exception (loophole-based) work v/s Straight (Rule-based) work, the ratio would be the famous 80:20.
But, what amazes me most is that we are a country always eye-deep in procedure/rules/regulations/laws/etc/etc/etc and yet we conduct most of our business using exceptions or loopholes! How's that for another addition to the long-list-of-contradictions that we are famous for! I think we spend more time analyzing which loopholes to avoid and which to embrace, rather than follow a simple business process, that drastically reduces the time and energy taken to conduct business.
It is difficult to conduct one straight deal, one clean transaction, one process-based closure. Most are negotiated on terms such as past relationships, current favorites, back-the-winning-horse strategy, screw-the-loser strategy, white-lie-syndrome, etc. So, the mind basically becomes a chessboard with various possible moves based on the opposing side's (often more than one!) move.
India is also the birthplace of Chess - Ah, now I get it! :)
