Why NRIs are returning to live and work in India

 

Sep. 15, 2007
Khaleej Times
By Ravi S. Jha

Aa ab laut chalen (Come, let's go back)... resonated the famous line of a famous song from a Bollywood movie of yesteryear. The protagonist, in this song, exhorts Indians living abroad to return back to the motherland. It's the call of the country, he says... an altruistic purpose of nation-building.

Decades later, many white-collared Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) are indeed making a beeline to return back to the country. This time, it's the call of fabulous salaries and a plethora of fantabulous job openings. A thriving market, company-paid villas, chauffeur-driven cars, world-class and low cost medical care, and a rising demand for the talented hands, India is tempting NRIs like never before.

According to one industry estimate, some 900 Indians in white-collar jobs across Middle East, Europe and even the US, are returning to India every month to re-settle and re-locate with their families. This comes to nearly 30 families daily.

Year 2007-2008 has seen a surge in this trend. "They are getting better offers in India. Hence, this home coming," says a study. It's an advantage few want to miss out on. With multinationals opening shops in India, even graduates of the Indian Institute of Technology (IITs) and Indian Institute of Management (IIMs) — counted among the best in the world — are thinking of staying back.

A salary of $250,000 per annum (nearly Dh750,000) at the senior management level (vice-presidents, general managers etc.) in top corporate houses of India is very much a reality. Middle management executives, including in the media and publishing, are taking home annual salaries close to $175,000 (nearly Dh525,000). "An NRI who has served abroad with an impeccable track record, can ask for more," says a source at the Confederation of Indian Industry (a non-government, not-for-profit, industry-led organisation that plays a proactive role in India's development process).

Sample this: Hindustan Times, a publishing giant, has no qualms in getting top marketing management heads from Europe, even if they have worked in non-media sectors, at a salary that would put many IT firms to shame. Google, Wipro, Microsoft, Tata Consultancy and others are getting NRIs to work for them at astronomical salaries.

Yahoo India's research chief Bhuvan Naik says: "When it comes to the high-end product scenario, the salary difference between India and the US is fast shrinking."

Indian companies are paying salaries at par with those of Europe and America. The Middle East, that paid well a decade ago, seems to have fallen way behind when it comes to salary levels. It is believed that wages, particularly in technology and IT sectors, in the US and India, will 'equalise', and Indian salaries will continue to rise. And so will the number of NRIs, who keep flocking to India to earn, stay and feel at home