Over 15,000 NRI resumes lying with Indian HR firms

Friday, 05 February 2010, 23:11 IST   |    35 Comments
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Over 15,000 NRI resumes lying with Indian HR firms
Bangalore: Due to the lingering impact of the global financial crisis, hiring has taken a beating in the U.S. market. But this has in turn resulted in an increase in the number of non-resident Indian (NRI) resumes received by Indian human resources (HR) companies. Over 15,000 NRI resumes have accumulated in the inboxes of headhunters, and the number is set to increase, say HR executives, reports Business Standard. Around 50,000 H1-B visa holders had their visas issued in 2002 and 2003. By 2009, most of these visas (which are work permits issued for a fixed period), with a validity of six years, expired. The number of H1-B visa holders who have applied for jobs in India is now said to be between 15,000 and 20,000. "A good number of those who went to the U.S. after 1999-2000 have started returning. U.S. President Barack Obama's posture has probably been one of the triggers. The reluctance to renew H1-B visas has also led to people deciding to return," said Kris Laxmikant, CEO and Chairman of recruitment firm Headhunters India. "Most of the H1-B visa holders were in the U.S. in consulting capacities. Many companies who made H1-B applications in 2003 are not keen to renew their H1-Bs, thanks to widespread apprehensions of the job pipeline for Americans thinning out. On the whole, there are fewer jobs available in the market," says B S Murthy, Head of Bangalore based Human Capital, a recruitment firm. According to economists at Goldman Sachs, the U.S. unemployment rate, which was 10 percent in December 2009 from five percent at the start of the recession in December 2007, will peak by the middle of 2011, before dropping back to 10.5 percent by the end of 2011. "Most of the returnees are in the mid and junior levels, and employed in the IT industry. TeamLease has received around 3,000 NRI CVs so far and placed a significant number of them. Most of them have been placed in permanent jobs. This is an evolving situation, and hence, it is difficult to know the exact number of CVs received by Indian recruitment firms so far," said Ashok Reddy, Managing Director, Teamlease Staffing Solutions. Calendar 2010 is expected to create around 50,000 fresh IT/ITeS jobs in India. A 15 per cent increment in hiring volumes, primarily in IT services, is expected in the first two quarters of 2010, while growth could cross 20 per cent or double towards the third and fourth quarters.