India a draw for business school grads

live/study abroad — By Bob Riel on September 27, 2006 at 3:52 pm

The fast-growing Indian economy is drawing business school graduates to South Asia. Despite the myriad of challenges that come with living in India, a number of young businesspeople are jumping at the chance to work in the country and gain valuable global business experience. Here is an excerpt from a story about this trend in today’s Christian Science Monitor:

Max van Cauwenberghe could be forgiven for wondering how he ended up in a place like this. Outside his office in this Delhi suburb of 1 million people, cows mill on roads with potholes that could be mistaken for meteor craters. It’s late September, but the sun still broils this arid landscape at more than 90 degrees F., and a dust storm is turning the air to the consistency of sandpaper.

Yet this young Belgian entrepreneur, fresh from business school, simply smiles. After all, he says, there is no place he would rather be than in India. Just a few years ago, often the only way to tempt expatriates to set up shop here was a lecture about company loyalty or a hefty hardship allowance. Now, an increasing number of interns and even executives are coming here voluntarily to witness – and to fuel – the rise of India Inc. …

A few of them have been world travelers already. Nicolas Nizet has been to Hong Kong and Siberia for internships. Raoul Wouters spent time in Ecuador. But India offered something unique: a chance to see and understand a crucial business trend that peers only know through books and classroom lectures.

These benefits do not just flow in one direction, either, as many Indian executives are eager to bring expats into their companies.

According to the head of Evaluserve, India’s need is great. He and others agree that India already has an abundance of domestic talent. But if it wishes to compete globally, it must have global resources – in other words, it must be fluent in the language and culture of its clients.

That’s where the expats come in. “We are not only an India-centric company,” says Ashish Gupta, head of Evaluserve India. “So to have this mingling of cultures is very, very important to us.” In all, he estimates, India will need more than 100,000 expatriates by 2010.