It seems we need not worry about the so-called brain drain, at least for now. Top executives in several multinational companies in India are declining offers for senior-level assignments abroad as they do not want to miss opportunities in India.

Yes, this part of the earth is becoming one of the hottest destinations for expatriates (of both Indian origin and foreigners) for top jobs, thanks to the hefty pay packages being offered by big business houses in India. These pay packets are equivalent to, or sometimes above, the global benchmarks.

This is a key finding of a study of senior recruitment trends by the U.S. based SpencerStuart, a leading executive search firm that recruits CEOs, presidents, and COOs for companies globally. The company recruits CEOs for almost half the Fortune 500 companies.

In the key sectors like retail, real estate, power, oil and gas and refining, and transportation and logistics Indian business houses are offering annual salary packages ranging from $750,000 to $1.5 million. Nearly half the CEOs and COOs recruited in these sectors are foreigners including non-resident Indians.

“Expats are increasingly finding India a more exciting market to work in than the more mature markets elsewhere. And large Indian companies in certain sectors are willing to pay remunerations equivalent to global salaries to get talent which is difficult to get in India,” said Anjali Bansal, Managing Director of SpencerStuart.

As a strategy, SpencerStuart has advised clients to shift regional headquarters from, say, Singapore or Hong Kong, to India so that senior Indian executives can head their operations from here.

SpencerStuart also said certain other countries have been identified for CEO recruitment for India. Contrary to the common belief, the U.S. is not the favored recruitment ground anymore.
In real estate, the happy hunting grounds include Australia, South East Asia, and the UK, amongst others. For oil gas and power, the preferred places are Kazakhstan, the North Sea area off Britain, Canada, and West Asia. The hottest recruitment grounds for retail are West Asia, South East Asia (especially Hong Kong), and Europe.