Until the 1980’s, expatriates in India were few and far between India was, – as one grizzled financial services veteran with a leading American bank put it, – “a hardship posting: primitive infrastructure, hardly any international schools and an uncertain health environment.”

A marked change has occurred during the last decade. For the first time, Indian businesses that were seeking to compete at a global scale (such as the Tatas) have looked to recruit expat talent of global quality into India to manage Indian businesses.

Simultaneously, companies in the Western world and the developed South East Asian economies have recognised the enormous growth potential of the Indian economy and have seconded large numbers of senior managers to upscale their existing businesses or establish new ones.

Religare is a classic example of an Indian financial services company that is aggressively hiring quality expat talent, sourcing from the world’s premier financial services players. Religare is visibly executing a robust growth strategy, based on entering multiple geographies and multiple financial product domains. This has caught the attention of many financial services professionals in India and in markets overseas.

The Koreans and the Japanese are present in the thousands in the automobile and durable industries, as are the English, Europeans and Americans in Oil and Gas, Infrastructure and Heavy Industry.  Simply no one can afford not to be present in one of the world’s largest and fastest growing economies.

In financial services, boom times look to be ahead. The Central Bank is likely to license a number of new players in 2012 to enter banking and to also allow foreign banks to convert themselves into subsidiaries, thereby allowing them to expand their branch network. This will create several thousand jobs, many of which will be filled by skilled expats and Indians returning home.

Key statistics

• Compensation levels, while still below Western or developed SE Asian standards, are rising fast.
• On the back of an average 10% banking industry salary increase in 2010, salaries have moved nearly 15% on average in 2011.
• RBI has also started giving its approval to foreign banks to set up shop in India.
  Industry experts said the job rush could begin as early as in the next 12 to 18 months. Hindustan Times