Passage to India

As India takes up jobs in the international BPO sector, some companies encourage foreign nationals to take up India-based employment

Pawandeep Kaur Delhi

Tanja Mustonen, Finnish, fields calls, arranges for travel packages for fellow westerners, and stays in Delhi. She works with Tecnovate eSolutions Pvt Ltd, Delhi, a subsidiary of Cendant Corporation, New York, a travel and real estate company. "I had Indian friends in Scotland and had heard a lot about India from them. Moreover, the company's head office in Helsinki offered me to work in India. I was more than happy to have an Indian experience," says Mustonen. 

Giving globalisation a new face, is the sunshine sector of business process outsourcing (BPO). It has added a changed direction to the global flow of jobs. Until now, Indians headed to the wild west to seek their fortunes. Now, westerners are heading eastwards to work in India-based BPOs, making the flow of labour two-way.

This new trend is causing some friction in India-based BPOs because it introduces discriminatory remuneration at the workplace, especially at the low-end, hitherto reserved for Indian nationals. 

For westerners like Mustonen, working for a BPO in India is attractive. There is an adequate salary, with add-ons such as accommodation, transport, special leave structures, and upward mobility options in the fast-growing Indian sector. Travel in the region is possible. What better way of planning the one year off that is popular among graduates in the west?

Earlier, Indian outsourcing firms were hiring foreigners for top-end jobs. They have broadened their recruitment base vertically. Anshuman Dash, coordinator, corporate communications, Evalueserve (EVS), a research-based knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) firm believes that westerners already have cultural information about their home regions. They have the requisite language skills, and a more suitable accent for the profession. West-based clients have more confidence in them. There are many reports of clients not willing to speak to Indian call centre workers. Management says that Indian workers have accents that are not easily understood by clients. The high employee turnover of 30-40 per cent is obviously also cause of worry. There is belief that foreign nationals will bring some stability to the worker base.

Anshumali Saxena, senior manager, business development, Tecnovate eSolutions, says that they require westerners with local travel knowledge of Europe.

These reassuring employees come at a price. "We have 40 foreigners from 11 different countries working with us," informs Rajesh Magow, Chief Financial Officer, Tecnovate eSolutions. They are provided  free housing, transportation and subsidised meals. The fully furnished guesthouse they get is within a three-four km radius from the office. A caretaker, a fulltime help and 24/7 security are part of the package. It is a standard that probably even the social democratic west cannot emulate.

Terence Derbyshire, International Analyst with EVS, explains, "The salary that we get here, though lower than what we get in France, is enough to support the cost of living in India."
EVS has about 30 international personnel working with them. "We plan to increase the percentage of foreign analysts (as foreign nationals are referred to) to at least 10 per cent," Dash announces.