Communication permeates all aspects of our professional lives. It is the key to having positive interactions and building and maintaining favorable relationships. The ability to communicate and have that message understood is vital in today’s world. Several employer surveys show that communication in English remains one of the most demanded skills by the employers. Students pursuing higher education in India are expected to possess high level of communicative competence by employers. This study seeks to investigate whether working on sociolinguistic, discourse, and strategic competencies, rather than focusing primarily on linguistic competence, alone would enable users of English in the Indian context to communicate more successfully. A pilot study was conducted and data (audio recordings) were collected in various communication contexts. The analysis of the data shows varied levels of communicative competence and also communicative competence deficits in individuals.