From brain drain to brain gain-things seem to have come full circle with foreigners across age groups and professions coming to India in search of jobs and experience in a developing market

Ethel Graff's father was concerned like the parent of any other 29-year-old would be. When the young and single German with 10 years' experience in the travel industry decided to take up a project manager's job at a call centre in India last summer, her father was shocked. "Job in India, are you sure? How will you stay all alone in a country so alien and so far," he had asked. After all, it is not so common for executives from developed countries like Germany and Belgium to willingly relocate to India for a job. But Graff-who had never visited India-stood her ground: "In the travel industry, the India experience counts today." Indians have become one of the highest spending tourists in Europe and Asia is a popular destination for most Europeans. Graff joined the Indian arm of ebookers, Europe's leading online travel agency. She has been in the country since 2003, has extended her contract once and is hoping to renew it again.

Call centres have given globalisation a new name. Now it may be giving it a new face. Not too long ago, MNC jobs, dollar salaries, foreign travel and global exposure drove well-educated Indians to the overseas job market. Now, the lure of rupee salaries, Indian jobs and experience in a developing market is turning the hitherto one-way road to western countries into a two-way street. Tecnovate eSolutions-ebookers' Indian arm-has hired over 70 foreigners including Finnish, Norwegian, Spanish, French and Swiss nationals to answer calls from its European clients. It is quite likely that a call by an Austrian tourist to his travel agent while on a visit to Switzerland will be answered in Delhi-not by an Indian fluent in German but by a German based in India.

India is a happening geography in the job market. "Earlier Indians went abroad looking for jobs. Now even foreigners are coming here looking for one," says Harish Bijoor, who runs a Bangalore-based consultancy firm. He recently placed 180 foreign jobseekers from Singapore, Hong Kong, Vietnam and Indonesia with a Gurgaon-based ITEs (it enabled services) firm.

The trend is not restricted to it jobs alone. Forty-four-year-old German Beatrix Morzaria has been working with Gokaldas Exports, a Bangalore-based garment manufacturer, as a technician for two years. Having worked for 23 years in Hong Kong, Philippines and Germany, Morzaria is raring to cut her teeth in India, which she says will be "the most promising market for garments after 2005". Next year, the garment export quota for members of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) will be eliminated which is expected to benefit Indian apparel exporters. Apparel manufacturers like Arvind Mills and Leela Scottish Lace too are hiring foreigners to boost productivity, technical upgradation and bring in manufacturing practices at par with the best in the world. Says Dinesh Hinduja, director, Gokaldas Exports: "Being closer to the market where we sell, they know the pulse of our business. Also, they bring in the much-needed international business practices."

Information technology and R&D centres are the obvious lures for foreigners. But a host of other sectors where Indian industry is getting globally competitive is hiring foreigners. These include apparel, pharmaceuticals, steel and services industries like hotels, airlines and tourism.

The shift is sharp within MNCs where an India posting is sought-after and experience of the Indian market is becoming key to a fast-track career for foreign executives. "Compared with mature slow-growing markets like Hong Kong and Singapore, India is like a rocket ship," says Norman Don Price, chief technology officer with Bharti Televentures. An American with over 20 years of global experience in the telecom industry, Price came to India in 2001 on persistent wooing by Bharti and has relished his stay. Adds Arun Tadanki, managing director, Monster Asia: "Foreign jobseekers are looking to India to be in the thick of action."

Delhi-based consultancy firm Egon Zehnder gets about 20 resumes a month from foreign executives looking for jobs in India. Till the mid 1990s such enquiries were non-existent. Bangalore-based Head Hunters India Pvt Ltd gets over 10 calls and e-mails a week. "Foreign jobseekers suddenly seem to have discovered India," says Rajeev Vasudeva, partner, Egon Zehnder.

Even as foreigners send in their CVs for an exciting career, the move to India is no longer the posting with a hardship allowance. Price of Bharti had declined a job offer in India in 1994 because he was not sure his family would be comfortable here. But today he enjoys his life after work as much as he likes his work. "Awesome golf courses, swanky malls, great restaurants-Delhi offers everything for a good life," he says. Graff too finds her stay more exciting than she had imagined. In February this year she travelled to Gulmarg. Since her arrival she has travelled to Rajasthan, Mumbai and most of the major destinations in south India. "It has been a wonderful experience," she says.

Working and living conditions in India have changed significantly over the past few years. Globalisation and liberalisation have pushed corporates in India to effect a complete makeover. They now have swanky, modern, well-equipped workplaces which are comparable to the best in the world. Changes have been both in the corporate offices as well as the shop floors. Kati Koivukanga, a 27-year-old Finnish travel executive with the Delhi-based arm of ebookers, finds the working conditions and job profile similar to those in Europe. "The work experience has been very good. The country is more modern than I had imagined," she says.

Added to that are some unique perks of living in India. Alexandra Gindl, a German trainer working with PeopleOne, a Bangalore-based hr firm, says, "Most expats live like maharajas here-palatial houses, cooks, full-time help-it's a life that developed countries can never give."

However, most foreign managers come at a 20-30 per cent higher cost. Cost of relocation, special perks and leaves at par with the country of their origin are just some of the things the employers have to offer. Tecnovate eSolutions has to give flexible holidays with a furnished house. "We allow them to club their weekend leaves and take holidays as most of them want to use their India stint to travel around and experience the country," says Prashant Sahni, CEO.

But for some companies, the higher payout may be justifiable. For industries like call centres (where the employee turnover rate is 42 per cent) foreign hands could help keep the workforce stable. "Once foreign professionals are on board we are sure of them completing their three-year term with us," says Bijoor.

For a country where its natives shunned its corporates to join MNCs abroad, the attention from foreign jobseekers is a great stamp of approval for the new India Inc.

INDIABOUND: INTERNS

Rush Hour

Last week, Infosys celebrated globalisation of a different kind. The first batch of 26 interns, part of its global InStep internship programme, arrived in Bangalore. Seventy students from over 49 universities will do their internship at the Infosys headquarters. The selection was not easy, considering it got 8,500 applications from universities like MIT, Harvard, Stanford, Wharton and the London Business School. "India is emerging as a destination for smart professionals across the globe," says Nandan Nilekani, CEO, president and MD, Infosys Technologies.

A team from Stanford, the Royal Institute of Stockholm and the Stockholm School of Economics recently visited Wipro. The dean of Wharton School, Patrick T. Harker has admitted that a rising number of graduates from the school want to be placed in India. Duke University's Fuqua School of Business sent a group of 20-30 students to India as part of its Global Academic Travel Experience programme in January. Says Professor Reuben David from North Central University, Minnesota, "India is on our academic radar screen."

Students are interested in India not just for its culture and tradition but for its reputation as an it power and its rising economic stature. "I wanted to know what makes India tick in infotech," says Tobias Schoeneberg, 25, who is studying informatics, psychology and artificial intelligence at a German university. Besides academic interest, internship in India also gives a leg-up to a graduate's job prospects at a time when job markets in developed countries don't appear very promising. "I might work in a big Indian company later," says Alexander Safaric, 24, a PhD student from Cologne University.

This may just be the beginning of a long love affair with India. As the interns get into the job market, their exposure to India will work both ways-help them get good jobs and spread awareness about the country overseas.

-By Stephen David