Foreign Flood
By mukul on Jul 9, 2008 in Featured, Uncategorized
Expats are moving into India. Their numbers are likely to increase.
There is a problem brewing in some sectors which could become a cancer unless people sit up and take notice right now. Expats are flooding into the country. Their numbers are likely to increase as a near recession grips the West. Led by the parties of the extreme right and the extreme left, who want tons of toil to be reserved for local sons of soil, there could be a backlash soon.
It’s totally unwarranted, of course. While we may legitimately talk about a “flood” of expats, the comparison is relative to what it was a few years ago. If put against the number of Indians working in, say, the US or the Gulf, it is insignificant.
But, comes a crisis and the expats will be the first to feel the pinch. These are not the earlier generation of foreigners who came in as CEOs or other brass. They are humbler folk, perhaps working in BPOs which require non-English language skills. And you can see it happening. In the civil aviation industry, which has been hit by the high costs of aviation turbine fuel, foreign pilots and engineers are being axed. They were bound to be the first cost-cutting target; their salaries are considerably higher than those of their Indian counterparts. An expat engineer, for instance, makes Rs 2.5 lakh a month against Rs 1.5 lakh for an Indian engineer.
There is a bigger problem waiting, however. Most of the people returning now are not foreigners but non-resident Indians (NRIs) and persons of Indian origin (PIOs). Last year, the then National Association of Software Service Companies (NASSCOM) president Kiran Karnik estimated that more than 20,000 NRIs had returned to India. This year, the number is likely to double.
There are several reasons for NRIs coming back (see box). But they are likely to bring trouble in their wake. Today, there is still the halo of a foreign degree and experience. Tomorrow, home-grown executives are going to ask why they are being discriminated against.
In China, which is a step ahead in this area (last year 40,000 non-resident Chinese returned to their motherland), the problems have already surfaced. The Chinese have coined a word to describe these returnees. They are called hai gui, which can be translated as sea turtles returning to the shores they left to grow up in the sea.
In the early days, they were welcome. Today they are not. Says an International Labour Organisation feature: “Government efforts to promote return migration have also created problems. Preferential policies for returnees have created bad blood between the sea turtles faction and people who have not gone overseas or the land turtle faction. Many hai guis have returned with the perception that an overseas MBA degree will put them in superior positions when compared to the locally-trained talent. They have invested much time and funds and, therefore, expect to receive high remuneration and fast promotion.”
What has happened now is that several returnees don’t find it easy to get a job. They are referred to as hai dai. One translation of that is “returnees waiting for jobs”. The other is “seaweed which floats and does nothing”. No guesses for the meaning the local Chinese prefer.
The Indian hai guis have already been throwing their weight around and irritating the people who didn’t desert the country when the going was tough. For instance, some of them suggested that the running of the Indian Institutes of Technology be handed over to them because they would do a much better job. But these were people who had made money in the West. Their greenbacks gave them some stature.
Today’s returnees are coming back straight out of college or with a couple of years’ work experience. They are causing resentment. If corporate India doesn’t watch out, such seaweed can gum up the works.
THE CHINESE STORY
Reasons for the hai gui (%)
China’s rapid economic development 58
Good government policy 47
Opportunity to develop
new technologies in China 42
Hard to find good
opportunities overseas 32
Glass ceiling overseas for
Chinese 31
Political stability in China 19
Note: People could choose more than one response. (Source: David Zweig analysis)
WHY SEA TURTLES RETURN
• Rapidly decreasing gap between salaries in India and the US.
• More opportunities in India.
• A better environment for growing children.
• Indian schooling much better than the US schooling.
• Need to get back to roots.
• Family support system in India.
• Increasing professional challenges.
• Growing belief in Brand India.
Source: Adapted from trak.in
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