Global managers—both of Indian and non Indian origins—are flocking in to the country seeking jobs here. The reason—an Indian stint on the resume adds the spark!

Leigh Gould, Manager-Operations, Omega Healthcare first visited India in October, 2006 to offer training to Indian employees working for her former company. Two months later she joined Omega Healthcare and came to India on January 2, 2007 to work here. The reason Gould says, “No other American has taken the opportunity to work for a healthcare BPO company in its offshore operations.

With the growing need for the healthcare industry to outsource, I saw it as an important step to open doors in companies that otherwise would not be open for me.” Added to this, Gould saw her India stint as an opportunity to grow as a people manager. “My 2006 visit to India for training exposed me to a diverse working group that I had not encountered in the US. That was the basis that instigated the desire to become a part of an organisation that had employees of that calibre.”

Gould’s is one of the many cases where global managers—both of Indian and non Indian origins—are flocking in to the country seeking jobs here. The reason—an Indian stint on the resume adds the spark!

According to industry reports, at global giants like at Cisco Systems, most of its top official at Globalisation Centre in India is expatriates. Accenture’s number of expatriates in India has shot up considerably since 2004. At Goldman Sachs Group, Mumbai, most of its top 10 officials are Indian returnees.

The new goldmine

Interesting work opportunities have made India an attractive destination for global managers. While the new economy companies here are either working on cutting edge areas or trying to offer world class innovative solutions, the old economy companies are diversifying into new segments.

“There are a number of expatriates who are joining the Indian workforce at entry levels. They view this stint as valuable experience in an emerging market that may help them get a foot-in the company’s HQ, back home,” says James Agrawal, Consulting Director & Head - India, BTI Consultants India. BTI Consultants is a global search firm specialising in CEO.

Developments in the developed and emerging economies are also contributing to the incoming of expatriates.

While developed world economies are stagnating, those of emerging countries—especially

India—are growing at a pace where it is becoming difficult to supply adequate numbers of relevant manpower to sustain this growth. Feels Agarwal, “Economic slowdown in developed economies and India’s penchant for hiring expatriates for key positions to capitalise their global experience, especially in emerging sectors like retail and real estate, are contributing to this trend. “There is also demand for lot of technical competencies in niche areas like aviation, R&D/innovation/infrastructure development, chemical industry etc apart from IT. On management front, working in India is about getting exposed to a work culture with culturally diverse workforce with strong value systems.

The importance given to the product/service quality by Indian companies is admired world wide and India is emerging fast in terms of adherence to process and statutory compliances.

Cut for a  stint

As Manav Garg, CEO & Founder Eka Software Solutions Pvt Ltd puts it, “An Indian stint gives a cross cultural exposure. It helps to gain insights into various Indian business perspectives.” Eka Software is a provider of commodity trade and risk management software founded by Garg in 2001 after a stint at the Coffee Desk of the G Premjee Group. Garg has extensive exposure in the coffee markets of Italy, Korea, Japan, Germany, Vietnam and the US.

But there are certain pre-requisites to be eligible to work in India. For global managers not of Indian decent, an Asian stint is a must. As is the case of John Mudie, GM & Country Head, CSR India, who has been in India for the past 8 months. 

His Asian stint started in 2003 when he moved to China to spend four years in Shenzhen and Shanghai after being in Netherlands for 17 years working for Philips, Fluke and Ericsson.

Mudie’s next destination was India, here’s why, “India is a rapidly growing economy and all the major players are looking to have a greater share of the pie. We appreciate the talent that exists in India and thus have a R&D centre here.

Being able to work in diverse markets such as of India and China, is an educational experience and is helping me in achieving a greater understanding of the markets.” One also needs competencies that fit into Indian psyche. There would be a number of surprises in for non-Asian global manager when exposed to Indian work culture. As Gould says, “The biggest experience has been the absenteeism and the reasons for it. I have had to learn to evolve around a culture that places a high importance on religion rituals that affect the attendance of employees and allow them time during the work day to attend to religious rituals.

For Desi returnees

I also found it necessary to teach the employees how important it is to plan for absences in advance and not wait until the last minute to request more than one day off, which is something that is understood in US companies.” 

Key contribution

For the US citizen of Indian origin, it could be about earning a western business experience first and then heading towards India - so they have a hang of both global and local cultures.

Anurag Dod, headed towards India to found, Guruji.com—a totally indigenous search engine that showcases the Indian content to the world.

With more than a decade of software engineering experience, which includes key contribution in two successful start-ups like Wisenut Search Engine, Dod was instrumental in developing Wisenut's Core Search Technology and has a patent pending for that.

He feels the benefit of having worked abroad and then heading back are multiple, both personal and professional wise. “A stint abroad certainly helped me get a wider outlook on the professional front.

Working with large enterprises like eBay, Synopsys made me realise the importance of being process oriented, planning and even soft skills like people management and motivation.

“My start-up experience helped me manage ambiguity, multi tasking and working with constraints.  “In the context of Guruji.com, I thought we have a huge opportunity to serve the Indian consumers, huge enough to convince me to come back,” he added. Gopi B Natarajan, who returned to India after a more than 14 year stint with the US healthcare Industry, feels working in the US offers a very unique perspective to business, management, leadership and various other skill-sets one needs to run an organisation. “I have worked for many Fortune 100 companies and learned how to get things done without getting caught in a myriad of political bureaucracies, which is the culture I have tried to incorporate into Omega.  You also cultivate abilities to think out of the box and be very receptive to change—something much needed here.”

The writer can be reached on jhinuk.cchowdhury@gmail.com