Managing: The Feeling Of Coming Home

MANAGING
The Feeling Of Coming Home

For some, it's simply the pleasure of sipping fresh coconut water. But many senior executives are willing to forsake plum foreign jobs simply for the rush of doing business in India Inc.

By T.R. Vivek

One day you're threading your way through the sphagetti junction-a maze of converging expressways outside 'Frisco-the next you're stuck behind a nobbled autorickshaw with no place to squeeze by on Annaswamy Mudaliar Road in Bangalore.

So does it make sense? Moving back to India when you've moved up the corporate ladder entrenched in the American or European burgeoise? ''It was a decision guided more by emotions than rationale,'' says Satish Pradhan, looking back some five months, when he decided to come back to India as the executive vice-president, Human Resources,Tata Sons from ICI Plc., London. Pradhan says the return to India isn't a bad career move either, considering that he is the now the hr head honcho for Tata Sons from being the organisation design and development manager at ICI.

Pradhan, 46, belongs to a small but growing club of high profile Indian executives who are heading home after long and rewarding stints with transnational companies overseas. What is it that's bringing home executives who have worked with the best of companies at senior positions?

Well, some come home simply for the feeling of home, but many find being a big fish in the small Indian pond makes considerable career sense. For others, the professional challenges and opportunities that India Inc. throws can be unparalleled.

After four years at ICI, Pradhan wanted a change, but was certain about one thing-he had to come back to India. ''Economically it was a stupid decision,'' he says. But today his job profile is much wider.

''Jobs are bifurcated in the international companies,'' explains Anita Ramachandran, CEO of Mumbai-based Cerebrus Consultants. ''Combined with flat hr structures they do not leave a lot of scope for even senior executives ... at some point there is a kind of stagnation.''

The Value of the Great Indian Experience

"The standard of living was higher in the US, but our child must grow up in India"
SUDHIR GOEL, V-P
(Projects), Amsoft

Multinationals setting up shop in India particularly look for executives who combine an international experience and a native understanding of India. For the executives, an offer like that can be a rush.

When Kapil Kapoor, took over as the managing director of Timex India 10 months ago, the Indian operations were foremost on the list of problems for the US watch major. ''The task of putting the Timex house in order, got my adrenaline flowing,'' says, Kapoor, formerly Commercial Director, Bausch and Lomb, South East Asia.

Kapoor believes that after India, he is now ready for assignments of any nature. ''Corporates all over value the India experience very much,'' he adds.

Even salaries are improving. There is still a big gap between Indian and the world but it's closing up.

Atul Kumar of international headhunting consultancy Amrop believes says returning executives are often in their mid or late forties, seeking new challenges after earning enough money and professional acclaim. As the integration of India Inc. with the global economy continues, the demand for such executives will spiral. ''The last four recruitments I have facilitated for Indian companies, have been through an international talent search,'' he adds.

When Colgate-Palmolive asked Debashish Roy to head their hr operations in India, he grabbed the chance. Before shifting base to India in May 2001, he was the global sourcing director with liquor giant United Distillers & Vintners in London. ''The prospect of playing a role in directly shaping the business of a huge FMCG company like cp was too good to resist,'' says Roy, now vice president, hr, with the same global visibility and a much larger role to play.

In the stumbling it sector, the desire to return home is perhaps its strongest. It helps that many can work with cutting-edge technology right here in India.

When Sudhir Goel was sent to the US in 1993 by Infosys to head operations there he was on cloud nine. But one day he simply decided that he wanted his son to go to school in India. ''The standard of living was higher in the US, but we wanted our child to grow up here,'' he says. Goel, 43, now Vice-President (Projects), Amsoft, a Bangalore software company, says the best part is that he's still at the frontlines of technology.

There is another set of senior executives coming back-those bitten by the entrepreneurial bug. That's increasingly common in the infotech and biotech hotbed of Bangalore.

After staying abroad for nearly 15 years, from Arizona in US to Maidenhead in UK, Avinash Vashistha thought he had seen it all. Avinash, 39, an IIT alum was the director of R&D, international operations of Nortel, and had worked abroad with other leading players like Lucent and GTE. But in March 2000, he decided to head back to India and start his own it outsourcing outfit called NEOIT in Bangalore.

Vashistha, who constantly shuttles between his California office and Bangalore, says that opportunities are the same everywhere in today's world. You just need to spot and tap those opportunities. So, when he saw the need for an online outsourcing intermediary, he jumped at the chance to set up his own company. ''After staying abroad for so many years,'' Vashistha says, ''Indian it companies and the marketplace offer as much openings and challenges as any market, even the US.''

-Additional reporting by Venkatesha Babu from Bangalore

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