Shubhreet Oberoi
New Delhi, 9 January 2006
India Calling
There are 30,000 expats working for Indian outsourcing companies. Earlier, they held highly paid jobs but now the western GeNext gets paid $350 a month to work the phones for six months to a year. This stint is followed by a chillout session in Goa, Rajasthan or the Himalayas.
A couple of decades ago, parents in developed countries told their children: Finish your dinner, millions in India are dying to eat. These days, they tell them: Boy, finish your homework, there are millions in India waiting to take your job.
You've heard that by now. How the west got Bangalored. Now hear this: 20 something westerners are chasing the rainbow all the way to India in search of jobs!
Hows that for migration? There are some 30,000 expats working for Indian outsourcing companies, three times the umber two years ago. And we are not telling you this. Its Nasscom.
To be fair, and no pun intended, westerners have always been a part of the Indian outsourcing scene. They dropped in as highly-paid experts who told us exactly what to do and how. They still drop by. Whats new: A growing band of young adventurers are answering to the call of, well, call centres, happy with the rock bottom wages, and emerging a key draw for multinationals working out of India and at the receiving end back home.
Typically, this adventure workforce gets paid $350 per head a month to work the telephone lines for six months to a year. They then take a break to chill out on the beaches of Goa, trek the Himalayas or visit the palaces of Rajasthan.
"It's a win-win situation," says Sreeram Iyer, COO of Scope International, a Chennai-based human resources and software development outsourcing operation of Standard Chartered Bank. "The workers don't only come for adventure. Many have trouble getting jobs back home," he adds. Despite India's seemingly limitless pool of workers, foreigners make up for the talent shortages faced by the outsourcing industry. Even though call centres are the first port of call for thousands of young Indians themselves, employers are increasingly getting finicky about who they hire. It's tough to train Indian to speak the kind of colloquial English, French, Spanish, German or Dutch that customers want. So, enter the firang! Small wonder then, companies are employing foreigners @ speed of arrival.
Take Evalueserve. It employs over 40 foreigners among a total workforce of 900. The company plans to add another 150 foreigners this year. "It is important to have cultural contact and language skills to enhance our offerings," says CEO Ashish Gupta. As an affiliate of eBookers that serves clients from across Europe, Delhi based Tecnovate is following the same mantra. More than half its workers (in a travel-related process) -- 40 out of 70 -- are Europeans. Next year, the company wants to add another dozen or so. "These expats love to explore India and usually balance their travel and work in a way to make the overall experience enjoyable as well as productive," says Bhupender Singh, CEO of Tecnovate.
Then there's GTL Ltd, a Pune-based outsourcer that hired a London-based employment agency to recruit 11 young people when it won a contact to provide customer service for a British company. "It also helped us benchmark our people doing the same job," says Anand Desai, HR head, GTL. The trend is also being fueled by the changing customer base of India's outsourcing firms. Initially, they served companies with customers in the US and Britain. But now, they're looking to boost business from Europe too. According to Nasscom, 64% of all outsourcing contracts in 2004 came from the US and Britain.
New Delhi, 9 January 2006
India Calling
There are 30,000 expats working for Indian outsourcing companies. Earlier, they held highly paid jobs but now the western GeNext gets paid $350 a month to work the phones for six months to a year. This stint is followed by a chillout session in Goa, Rajasthan or the Himalayas.
A couple of decades ago, parents in developed countries told their children: Finish your dinner, millions in India are dying to eat. These days, they tell them: Boy, finish your homework, there are millions in India waiting to take your job.
You've heard that by now. How the west got Bangalored. Now hear this: 20 something westerners are chasing the rainbow all the way to India in search of jobs!
Hows that for migration? There are some 30,000 expats working for Indian outsourcing companies, three times the umber two years ago. And we are not telling you this. Its Nasscom.
To be fair, and no pun intended, westerners have always been a part of the Indian outsourcing scene. They dropped in as highly-paid experts who told us exactly what to do and how. They still drop by. Whats new: A growing band of young adventurers are answering to the call of, well, call centres, happy with the rock bottom wages, and emerging a key draw for multinationals working out of India and at the receiving end back home.
Typically, this adventure workforce gets paid $350 per head a month to work the telephone lines for six months to a year. They then take a break to chill out on the beaches of Goa, trek the Himalayas or visit the palaces of Rajasthan.
"It's a win-win situation," says Sreeram Iyer, COO of Scope International, a Chennai-based human resources and software development outsourcing operation of Standard Chartered Bank. "The workers don't only come for adventure. Many have trouble getting jobs back home," he adds. Despite India's seemingly limitless pool of workers, foreigners make up for the talent shortages faced by the outsourcing industry. Even though call centres are the first port of call for thousands of young Indians themselves, employers are increasingly getting finicky about who they hire. It's tough to train Indian to speak the kind of colloquial English, French, Spanish, German or Dutch that customers want. So, enter the firang! Small wonder then, companies are employing foreigners @ speed of arrival.
Take Evalueserve. It employs over 40 foreigners among a total workforce of 900. The company plans to add another 150 foreigners this year. "It is important to have cultural contact and language skills to enhance our offerings," says CEO Ashish Gupta. As an affiliate of eBookers that serves clients from across Europe, Delhi based Tecnovate is following the same mantra. More than half its workers (in a travel-related process) -- 40 out of 70 -- are Europeans. Next year, the company wants to add another dozen or so. "These expats love to explore India and usually balance their travel and work in a way to make the overall experience enjoyable as well as productive," says Bhupender Singh, CEO of Tecnovate.
Then there's GTL Ltd, a Pune-based outsourcer that hired a London-based employment agency to recruit 11 young people when it won a contact to provide customer service for a British company. "It also helped us benchmark our people doing the same job," says Anand Desai, HR head, GTL. The trend is also being fueled by the changing customer base of India's outsourcing firms. Initially, they served companies with customers in the US and Britain. But now, they're looking to boost business from Europe too. According to Nasscom, 64% of all outsourcing contracts in 2004 came from the US and Britain.
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