"Global Talent. Local Markets. India Calls. Are You Ready?"

"Global Talent. Local Markets. India Calls. Are You Ready?"
Siliconindia (09/04) P. 28; Shankar, Pradeep; Revanna, Harish
A recent SiliconIndia poll of Indian American executives in U.S. corporations found that 60 percent are actively seeking opportunities to emigrate back to their native country, an attitude becoming more prevalent as India's economy and outsourcing market expands and U.S. businesses become more willing to offshore jobs. Also fueling this reverse brain drain are the lack of a global outlook in the United States and an excessively management-centric U.S. market. Most returning Indians are higher management workers with at least 15 to 20 years of professional experience under their belt. They are not returning because they are homesick, but because they wish to take advantage of improvements in the quality of life, better job perks and challenges, greater foreign investment, and the growing presence of cutting edge technology development projects in India. Another plus cited by interviewed returnees is the separation of technology and management in Indian companies, through which they have secured higher positions than they had in American companies. BEA Systems' Bhavin Sheth notes that "The opening up of Indian markets has resulted in availability of the same goods and services one is used to in the U.S. at an affordable price," and adds that these goods and services cost more as a percentage of one's salary in India than in the United States. Most of the interviewed returnees admit to pining for the citizenship-acquired countries they left, but their homesickness is assuaged somewhat by modern communications such as the Internet and IP phones. Returnees are also appreciative of Indian culture for offering their relocated families a more social, less materialistic environment in which to grow up.