India is a strange place. It attracted global IT companies to establish their bases in India with a carrot of cheap talent. These companies, after looking at possibly high margins, eagerly established their headquarters in the country. But in this ever-changing world, when the tables will be turned, we can’t say for sure.
Enter pandemic. The pandemic accelerated the need of going digital for all businesses. This caused the demand for skilled IT talent to go north. When the rest of the sectors witness job and salary cuts, qualified and experienced, IT people are in high demand. The same thing has skyrocketed the salaries of IT people.
IT salaries are reaching new peaks.
In some cases, for a professional with ten years of experience, salaries are high as Rs 50-60 lakh. This makes global in-house centres (GICs) of companies in India uncompetitive from an offshoring perspective, noted Vinu Nair, managing partner of Antal India. The company works with global companies on their India recruitment plans.
As the Economic Times report, more companies are reworking their budgets to accommodate the changes in the IT marketplace.
While in conversation with ET, Vikram Ahuja, co-founder of Talent500, said companies are offering a 50%-100% hike to top talent. This sudden bump in payouts will make India less attractive for global players, which are drawn here for a cheaper workforce. He added that India remains a preferred destination for international recruiters, but the recent increase in pay packages has made many re-evaluate their increased dependence on the region.
Companies are turning to other regions.
With the increase in salaries of skilled workers, global companies are seen balancing their India talent pool with other regions. Poland, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Ukraine are among the top choice for alternate destinations.
Experts have pointed at the absence of highly talented individuals globally for inflated salaries. According to Prasad Mandava, managing director and vice president of — engineering of cloud delivery platform Akamai India, the phenomenon is worldwide and not specific to India.
Even though other regions like Eastern Europe are coming up as attractive destinations for recruiters, India has first movers advantage in the field. Also, India offers the advantage of English understanding skilled labour, the front on which other regions lag.