News: Non-resident Indians are taking the return flight home
(DNA 15/05/2006) Mumbai - For decades, West Asia or the Middle East has been a Mecca for Indian job seekers, both blue and white collared.
A strong local currency, low cost of living, and a booming economy ensured that the flights to these nations remained full and placement agencies busy.
However, all this seems to be changing now. Many of the economies are pushing for higher representation of sons-of-the-soil in the job sector.
Coupled with other factors like a robust economy back home and foreign direct investment pouring into new sectors, many Indians are boarding the return flight to find gainful employment here.
To capture this trend, Clarendon Parker, one of the larger placement agencies of the region, has entered India with a view to find opportunities for non-resident Indians (NRIs) and expatriates. Its chairman Patrik Luby talks to Rabin Ghosh on the kind of opportunities he sees for his clients from the Gulf.
What brings you to India?
I have Indian staff (working with me) and I am aware of Indians as a working group. In the last one year, I have been made aware of the opportunities here. Many of our clients are asking us if we have a base in India. Of our database of 1,70,000 curriculum vitaes (CVs), over 75,000 are Indians.
Is the demand domestic or are you recruiting for your foreign clients?
We will focus only on the inbound placement needs from the Gulf to India. Our joint venture partner Rite Choice will continue to fulfill the outbound needs of candidates in India. We also do placements within the GCC (Gulf Co-operation Council) states. A lot of NRIs we talk to want to come back and take part in the growth opportunities here. If you are unmarried, then Gulf is a great place to stay and earn tax-free income. However, once you have families and the children start growing, we notice that many want to return due to the children’s education, fulfil responsibilities towards aging parents back home etc.
Another factor why a lot of Indians are looking at returning is because many of them have been marginalised due to localisation such as Bahrainisation in Baharain, Kuwaitisation in Kuwait, Omanisation in Oman. As more management jobs get filled by locals, more Indians will return.
How has this affected salaries in the Middle East?
Employers in the Middle East know that the employees would fight to stay on rather than push for salary hikes, because for every job, there are 10 people waiting in line to get in. Hence there are no runaway increases in salary.
Are there any particular sectors that you are looking at to place these NRIs?
We are not a niche placement consultant. We would be servicing industries across-the-board. Our focus verticals would be IT and ITeS (information technology enabled services), telecom, retail, aviation, energy projects, and FMCG (fast moving consumer goods). We would be focussing more on the emerging sectors because there is a shortage of quality experienced professionals here. We would also place expatriates wherever required. We notice that the skills needed in India are more in management areas than for the shop floor level. So, we will typically be looking at placing more middle to senior management people rather than entry level.
What services would you be providing here?
We would be offering our full bouquet of services like permanent recruitment, NRI recruitment, expatriate recruitment, managed resource centres, salary surveys, employee satisfaction surveys, human resource and training services. We would be investing Rs 1.7 crore in setting up our operations. In the first year, we expect our revenues to be Rs 10 crore, Rs 13 crore in the second year, and Rs 17 crore in the third year. We would be placing India-specific business development consultants in Dubai, Oman and other GCC nations.
Any plans outside of India in the region?
We don’t have any immediate ambitions to look beyond the Asian subcontinent. We plan to have a total of 20 offices in the Middle-East (we already have seven) and India by December. Next year, we would enter Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, and in 2008 Malaysia and Singapore.
A strong local currency, low cost of living, and a booming economy ensured that the flights to these nations remained full and placement agencies busy.
However, all this seems to be changing now. Many of the economies are pushing for higher representation of sons-of-the-soil in the job sector.
Coupled with other factors like a robust economy back home and foreign direct investment pouring into new sectors, many Indians are boarding the return flight to find gainful employment here.
To capture this trend, Clarendon Parker, one of the larger placement agencies of the region, has entered India with a view to find opportunities for non-resident Indians (NRIs) and expatriates. Its chairman Patrik Luby talks to Rabin Ghosh on the kind of opportunities he sees for his clients from the Gulf.
What brings you to India?
I have Indian staff (working with me) and I am aware of Indians as a working group. In the last one year, I have been made aware of the opportunities here. Many of our clients are asking us if we have a base in India. Of our database of 1,70,000 curriculum vitaes (CVs), over 75,000 are Indians.
Is the demand domestic or are you recruiting for your foreign clients?
We will focus only on the inbound placement needs from the Gulf to India. Our joint venture partner Rite Choice will continue to fulfill the outbound needs of candidates in India. We also do placements within the GCC (Gulf Co-operation Council) states. A lot of NRIs we talk to want to come back and take part in the growth opportunities here. If you are unmarried, then Gulf is a great place to stay and earn tax-free income. However, once you have families and the children start growing, we notice that many want to return due to the children’s education, fulfil responsibilities towards aging parents back home etc.
Another factor why a lot of Indians are looking at returning is because many of them have been marginalised due to localisation such as Bahrainisation in Baharain, Kuwaitisation in Kuwait, Omanisation in Oman. As more management jobs get filled by locals, more Indians will return.
How has this affected salaries in the Middle East?
Employers in the Middle East know that the employees would fight to stay on rather than push for salary hikes, because for every job, there are 10 people waiting in line to get in. Hence there are no runaway increases in salary.
Are there any particular sectors that you are looking at to place these NRIs?
We are not a niche placement consultant. We would be servicing industries across-the-board. Our focus verticals would be IT and ITeS (information technology enabled services), telecom, retail, aviation, energy projects, and FMCG (fast moving consumer goods). We would be focussing more on the emerging sectors because there is a shortage of quality experienced professionals here. We would also place expatriates wherever required. We notice that the skills needed in India are more in management areas than for the shop floor level. So, we will typically be looking at placing more middle to senior management people rather than entry level.
What services would you be providing here?
We would be offering our full bouquet of services like permanent recruitment, NRI recruitment, expatriate recruitment, managed resource centres, salary surveys, employee satisfaction surveys, human resource and training services. We would be investing Rs 1.7 crore in setting up our operations. In the first year, we expect our revenues to be Rs 10 crore, Rs 13 crore in the second year, and Rs 17 crore in the third year. We would be placing India-specific business development consultants in Dubai, Oman and other GCC nations.
Any plans outside of India in the region?
We don’t have any immediate ambitions to look beyond the Asian subcontinent. We plan to have a total of 20 offices in the Middle-East (we already have seven) and India by December. Next year, we would enter Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, and in 2008 Malaysia and Singapore.
posted by InCar Group Press Room at 14:03
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