Foreigners climb aboard high-speed India economy

Going halfway around the world for a job that pays about $11,000 a year hardly sounds like a great career move for an Ivy League graduate.

But for Michael Delfs, the chance to work in India and see the country’s economic boom for himself was all the incentive he needed. In August, Delfs, 26, became one of many foreign workers outsourcing themselves to India, following the explosion in jobs in one of the fastest-growing economies in the world.

“Going to India and actually seeing what was happening seemed like a good idea,” said Delfs, who graduated from Columbia University last spring and estimates he could have made about $100,000 in a job in the West.

The challenges for foreigners working in India are obvious: spotty electricity and water service, crushing poverty, jammed airports, flexible notions of time, and a strict adherence to hierarchy that means Indians often have difficulties with casual Western office behavior, preferring “sir” and “boss” to first names.

But the opportunities are clear. India’s economy has been growing at about 8% a year, rivaling China. Growth has been fueled by a technology boom and new jobs, as Western companies have set up offices, lured by inexpensive English-speaking labor. Indian companies have also expanded, opening international offices. Recently, the country’s stock market hit a record high.

Sometimes Westerners have followed jobs that have been outsourced, such as a British computer-game designer who followed his job from London to New Delhi. Sometimes they have joined multinational company offices in India.

Indian companies are also hiring more foreigners, often to work at offices worldwide but sometimes to work in India. Some foreigners have skills that Indian workers lack. Some young people, such as Delfs, are coming to work at Indian-level salaries to get the kind of experience they would never find in the West. India is being touted as the solution for unemployment problems in countries such as Germany.

“India is hot,” said Ashish Gupta, the chief operating officer at Evalueserve, a global research firm based in Gurgaon, a suburb of New Delhi, which has studied the increase in foreign workers needed in India. “India is happening. There’s lots of action here.”

Gupta said he would not be surprised to see 500,000 foreigners working in India in 10 years, compared with 10 years ago, when perhaps 1,000 worked here.

Numbers are difficult to come by. Government officials say that the number of foreigners has increased sharply but that the number is secret because the office in charge of registering foreign work visas is not covered by the country’s public information act.

At least 10,000 Americans work for Indian information technology companies, consulting companies and other outsourcing companies, according to Forrester Research, a consulting company in Cambridge, Mass.

Tata Consultancy Services, a top Indian technology firm, plans to hire 30,500 foreign workers this year, including 1,000 Americans, to work in India and in offices in 35 countries. As recently as four years ago, fewer than 100 non-Indians worked for the company.

“India has now kind of become what China was five years ago,” said Pradipta Bagchi, spokesman for Tata Consultancy Services. “Everybody’s talking about it. Everybody has to have an Indian strategy now. It’s come to that level.”

IKAN Relocation Services moves people to India, finds them homes and helps them adjust to the culture. Trainers explain the differences that workers may find, chiefly with communication, space and hierarchy.

Many Indians communicate indirectly, avoiding confrontation and blunt talk. Much of the country also rigidly adheres to a sense of hierarchy, a leftover from the caste system and the belief that everyone has a certain predetermined fate and place in society. Many Indian workers treat their bosses like demigods, said Rohit Kumar, who helped form IKAN 10 years ago.

In a country of more than 1 billion people, personal space is also a luxury few can afford. Trying to get anywhere often involves shoving and elbows, but in a good-natured way.

“The first month in India is difficult,” Kumar said. “It’s a bit of a slap in the face.”