Hi guptakushagra16,
Right now, we have 3 options for customizing the look of the directory:
1) First is custom CSS to do basic tweaks like fonts, spacing and colors. Here is an article about how to use custom CSS with Business Directory in a way that doesn’t get overwritten on upgrade of BD: http://businessdirectoryplugin.com/support-forum/faq/how-to-use-custom-styles-with-bd-2-1/
2) For the more adventurous and layout-based changes, you can override templates: http://businessdirectoryplugin.com/support-forum/faq/customizing-bd-to-fit-your-theme/ And also do more with fields: http://businessdirectoryplugin.com/support-forum/faq/advanced-customization-of-the-list-and-detail-views-of-bd/
3) But if that’s not enough, you can go full-bore and customize anything in the plugin if you have the proper skill set: http://businessdirectoryplugin.com/docs/customization-guide/
Pretty soon, we will be offering “skins” for BD, to make is easiest to switch the look of the directory, as easily as you switch the look of your site today with a theme. It’s not quite ready for primetime yet, but will be soon.
For your permalink question above, if you have your directory on a page named “India”, it will always be on http://website.com/india and your listings will show up under it. That’s a current limitation of BD, and you can’t just eliminate that /india in the URL because of how we display the listings through a shortcode on the /india page.
