IMRTI Study on Return to India- A White Paper

Introduction
A growing number of non resident Indians are willing to return back after climbing corporate
hierarchy in last two decades around the world. However, they lack suitable resources that can
help them make an informed decision. In response to this challenge, new services have sprung
up in the form of web portals, placement agencies and trade fairs but these services have not
been successful in tapping this talented resource pool and meet its needs and expectations. One
part of the problem is lack of well known research to understand the socio-economic
background of this community and make decisions based on that.

We conducted an extensive study of Indian economy and job market and compared it with Indian
Americans distribution in various industries in the US. Through this study, we have also tried to
identify what are the key professional issues around returning to India and how they can be
resolved. The study was aimed to understand the employment trends and does not take into any
personal topics like finance, kids’ future and entrepreneurship.

Why Indians Return

Various researches cite major reasons for returning Indians being
 Family ties in India
 Upbringing and education of children in an Indian culture

In last few years, the third reason taking prominence is better career prospects in India. This has
been a u-turn from last few decades when Indian professionals visited Western Europe and US
to advance their careers. This transformation is also radical because lack of great career
opportunities has been one of the constraints for returning Indians for quite some time. The
change to a very large extent can be attributed to the tremendous growth that India has seen in
last decade in the sectors other than agriculture, textile and small manufacturing units.

Who is returning to India?

Immig ratio n S tatus of R eturnin g Indians in 2008

O ther G C -> US C
3% 7%

US C GC
43% 20%

H1
27% Source: R2IClubForums.com

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The graph above shows that a majority of Indians returning are either US citizen or permanent
residents (green card holders) of US. This could be explained due to the fact that returning
Indians want to keep the option to go back to US open. The permanent residency and citizenship
can take anywhere from 7 to 10 years, it is safe to assume that most of the returnees are in
middle management positions in their career.

How long did returning Indians stay in the US?

How long did they s tay in US /C anada?

35
73% be twe e n 7-13 ye ars
30 11% le s s than 7 ye ars
16% g re ate r than 13 ye ars
25
F requenc y

n = 170
20
Me dian = Mode = 10 yrs
15
Me an = 10.2 yrs

10

0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

Y e ars in US /C anada

Source: R2IClubForums.com

The median number of years that Indians spent in US before returning is 10 years with 7 to 13
years covering 73% of the population. This data is in line with residency status and points
towards that most of the returning Indians are either in Middle or middle to senior management
when they plan to return back

Which states do the returning Indians belong to?

Wh ic h S tate d o th ey c u rren tly liv e in ?

O thers
18%
CA FL
31% 3%
NC
3%

PA
3%
WA
4%
IL GA
NY , NJ , C T
D C ,VA 5% 5%
15% TX
6%
7%
Source: R2IClubForums.com

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The data for returning Indians show that majority of them are returning from west and east
coast. This data is very much in line with the data of residing Indians, only exception being that
the percentage of returning Indians is higher from California. A large population of Californian
Indians works within IT industry, so it is safe to assume that returning Indians constitute high
proportion of IT workers.

Which city retuning Indians prefer to settle in?

Whic h C ity are they moving to? G urgaon

O thers 2%
B angalore 8% D elhi
23% 4%
Mumbai
12%

Hyderabad P une
22% 14%

C hennai
15%
Source: R2IClubForums.com

Bangalore has housed the highest percentage of returning Indians with 23% of choosing to
return to Bangalore followed closely by Hyderabad. Bigger cities like Delhi and Mumbai are
dwarfed by Pune and Chennai and it can be attributed to fact that majority of returning Indians
are looking for jobs in IT sector where Bangalore, Hyderabad and Pune have been growing very
fast.

Indian Growth Story

Indian economy is still mainly rural and lots of small and medium sized enterprises contribute to
GDP such as textile, leather and agriculture. But in the last decade, the focus has shifted to other
sectors. IT/ITES, Electronics, Automobile, Banking and Retail are some of the sectors which have
increased their share and will continue to grow in future as shown in the exhibit below.

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 Source: Deloitte & Nasscom Study

The growth in these sectors has provided professionals with new career options that were not
possible before. A study of published jobs prove that IT continues to be the number one
industry with most number of published jobs, though other sectors are also growing. Banking &
Insurance and Construction are next two sectors for which the skilled labor demand is
consistently rising. Though published job indicator does not reveal all the jobs in a sector, it is
still a useful indicator. As companies in a particular sector grows from micro to small to medium
and began to publish jobs instead of word of mouth hiring. So, it is no surprise that Construction
has moved up higher as companies in construction sector have grown in the size due to alliances
with foreign construction firms. Even with this overall growth, IT will continue to be the cog in
India’s development engine.

Source:Naukri.com

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The IT Story
In this decade, Indian IT sector has fueled unprecedented direct and indirect growth in Indian
economy. Not only, this has generated employment and enhanced innovation by means of
entrepreneurship, it has also improved various socio-economic factors such as corporate
governance and boost to country’s image globally.

This has also led R2I community to feel increasingly positive about the nation’s prospect,
especially in IT sector.

A quick comparison of skilled IT professionals required in US against the skilled workers in India
shows that the demand is very similar for these countries with some differences. Though US IT
industry seeks software developers, project managers and business analyst from India, it does
not seek Product Managers. This is due to the fact that Indian IT industry, although famous for
its services, still has nascent product development. On the other hand, there is a growing
demand for product related jobs such as Product Manager in India as multinational companies
move their manufacturing and design to India and see India.

Source:H1-B Database and Naukri.com

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An industry wise break up shows that Computer Scientific & Engineering is most common sector
that Indian Americans are employed into. This is in tandem with the data from Indian jobs and
confirms that IT related jobs are the most common jobs sought by Indian in US.

Source: Indian American Community Survey 2005

A demographic distribution of the Indian population displays that most of the Indians are settled
around coasts with 40% of population in California and Tri state area. The employers planning to
hire R2I may want to focus in these two areas in the beginning.

Challenges in returning back to India

1. Mismatch in expectations: The biggest challenge faced by Indians contemplating a

return back to India is the expectations mismatch. Expectation mismatch can be further
sub divided into salary and position sought. While salaries have grown at a very
handsome pace in India, the returning Indians generally have unrealistic expectations in
salary at their experience level. A big reason is that people convert their $ salaries into
rupees versus using a purchasing power parity approach.

2. Logistics issues: Not a lot of firms have staffing operations set up that can facilitate
hiring of international candidates seamlessly. Time zone differences, scheduling issues,
lack of face time with candidates early on in the process are some of the hindering
factors which this study has identified as top issues faced by firms looking to hire
returning Indians.

3. Long placement cycle: Our research has concluded that the average timeframe of hiring
an international candidate from start to finish (candidate joining the firm) can take up to
a minimum of 3 months. Setting up international interviews, offer formalization, visa

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 issues, relocation problems are some the most commonly cited concerns of both the
candidates and the hiring firms.

4. Lack of planning: One of the most under rated yet important reasons identified by this
study is the lack of a plan to plan your return to India. Going back to India is perhaps the
biggest professional decision of your life and most of the people have not put much
thought around it. What will be the right time, right place to settle, how much do I need
to save, which career level should I be targeting are some critical elements of the return
to India plan which need to be hashed out in detail months if not years before your
anticipated return timeframe.

How can these issues be resolved?

1. Personalized placement services firms: Imagine if you had trusted adviser who you
could turn to when looking to move back to India. Niche placement firms can bring in a
whole new level of personalization and help non resident Indians make a successful
transition back to India. Not only they can provide best fit jobs, they can manage a
candidate’s expectations, hand hold the candidate through the process and provide
expert advice and guidance around the issues outlined above.

2. Better information to make informed decisions: There is no trusted source where non
resident Indians can go and get their questions answered about potential concerns they
may have. They generally rely on family or friends or internet forums which may or may
not be able to give them an accurate picture of what’s happening on the ground. This
study identified the lack of professional social network where people can exchange
ideas, set up their own forums, network with likeminded people, look for jobs and seek
advice all in one place.

3. Planning well in advance: The return to India planning has to begin 12-18 months
before your anticipated return date. This will give you adequate time to explore all
options carefully, and help you wind down your person and professional commitments
at your current country of residence.

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