Why is India becoming a hotspot for expatriate talent?
It is a well known fact that India has been a lucrative source of talent for corporations globally. In the last decade alone, thousands of Indians moved into key roles, with companies across diverse industries in different geographies around the world. Indian managers today constitute a significant part of leadership and senior management teams of several global corporations.
MNCs such as Unilever, P&G, Pepsico, Citibank, GE and Nokia, that with presence in India, have leveraged the high quality Indian talent effectively by moving them globally. In some of these companies, Indians account for as much as 10% of the global leadership.
However, in the last couple of years, there has been a paradigm shift – India is now moving from being a lucrative source of talent to a preferred career destination for professionals across the world.
Increasingly, Indian companies are hiring expatriates for key roles – and they are willing to pay top dollar for these hires. In the last two years, a large Indian retail company, Reliance Retail, hired around 100 expatriates from global retail chains like Wal-Mart, Carrefour and Dairy Farm, in areas like supply chain, operations and planning. A start up hospitality company is doing a global search for project directors. Banks and financial services majors such as Standard Chartered Bank and ING have hired Indians working abroad and repatriated them to India. The list goes on.
MNCs with a presence in India are being flooded with requests from their employees across the world for assignments in India.
Search firms in India are being increasingly approached by professionals from around the world, for career opportunities in India.
Thousands of Indians working outside the country want to come back – not because of nostalgia, but for professional growth.
So, what are the reasons for this paradigm shift? Why has India suddenly transitioned from a ‘hardship posting’ to a preferred career destination?
Led by sustained economic reforms, emergence of new consumer segments, evolving consumer habits, exponential increase in consumer spending, easy availability of capital at cheap rates etc., the Indian economy is growing at an exciting 10% a year – indisputably one of the fastest growing economies in the world.
Capital Markets are at an all time high. There is a sustained focus on upgrading the infrastructure. The Rupee has appreciated significantly in the last one year, and is moving towards complete convertibility. With penetration levels for most products and services still abysmally low, the economy is likely to experience sustained growth for years to come.
The India story has created a pull for companies globally to set up shop. MNCs already in India and Indian corporates are expanding operations to meet the increasing demand for products and services. This has led to an unprecedented demand for talent across all sectors, transitioning India from a talent surplus country to a talent short market – companies are therefore being forced to look beyond India’s shores for their hiring needs.
There has been an emergence of several new sectors such organised retail, in which there is lack of talent for specialised roles such as logistics, supply chain and merchandising.
Sectors such as asset management, investment banking, life sciences, health care and real estate are not only growing exponentially, but are also evolving in terms of offering new products & services, using new technologies, and offering service standards hitherto unheard of in India. These sectors are facing an acute shortage of talent in specialised areas.
Companies in these sectors are aggressively scouting for talent globally, and are pulling out all stops to attract the right people. These companies are willing to offer compensation which is globally competitive – An investment banker in Mumbai can make as much or more money than he could in New York, London or Hong Kong. Compensation and bonuses can vary between US $1 - 5 million p.a. for senior professionals leading the ibanking or capital market verticals for an investment bank.
A high growth market like India offers huge potential for learning & growth. The opportunity to contribute and make an impact is significant; Couple that with the challenge of India being demographically the most complex market in the world; Sweeten that with top dollar compensation – there can’t be a more compelling career proposition for professionals, anywhere in the world.
Sustained coverage in the Indian economy by global media, high value acquisitions of MNCs by Indian companies and global leadership of India in IT consulting have substantially enhanced the India appeal.
However, India still has a long way to go before it can boast of having a global workforce – there are major deterrents for expatriates, and Indians returning from abroad – poor infrastructure (roads, transport, power, water etc.), corruption, pollution and crowded cities, law and order are some factors which can dampen the lure of the most compelling career proposition.
Having said that, the India opportunity will continue to attract talent from around the world, and this trend of talent flow into the country is expected to accelerate in the coming years.
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