As a recruiter in the tech industry, I often get several Whatsapp forwards and LinkedIn tags on news pieces about hiring tech talent, the challenges, the trends, and more. Working in the industry for over 10 years now, I usually have my two cents on such trends and opinions but I rarely put them out on social media or pen them down as articles. I may share it with my trusted work colleagues but not beyond. 

So when last year the media flooded with articles like “100% hikes, Rs 60 Lakh for 10-year experience—India’s IT talent getting expensive for MNCs”. They talked about how “companies are offering 50-100% hikes and huge salaries to Indian IT professionals make the country less attractive for global players”. I did not comment on the matter even though I completely disagreed with it. 

I smirked internally and thought to myself, “that’s not going to happen”. After that, I moved on from the subject and began recruiting and building teams for my clients. I was hiring people, some of whom were indeed offered such hikes – until recently. 

The Narrative Changed

Not so long ago, another set of articles made its way into the media. This time the narrative was – “Tech firms may hike pay by 120% to hire, retain niche talent” or “120% Salary Hike For Indian IT Employees In 2022? Here’s The Shocking Truth!”. I smiled and thought, “Now might be the right time to share my two cents”. 

What do you think happened? An industry that was scared of 100% hikes was now witnessing 120% hikes and people willing to pay that. Why? 

Unlike the popular belief that global players and tech giants don’t seek Indian talent because they’re affordable at scale. At least that’s what I have heard from all the CXOs from global I have hired for. Our tech talent was, is, and will always be sought after across the globe – and for good reason. 

Here are the three key reasons why I believe that India will always be the perfect destination for engineering teams and R&D centers for technology companies and its importance will only grow over time. 

Why Indian Talent Will Always Be In Demand?

The Two “S” Factor

First and foremost, India has what I call the “Two S” factor a.k.a. Skills at Scale. Both startups and enterprises required quality talent at scale – they want talented techies and they want them in abundance. Why? 

Sarv Saravanan, head at APJ Centers of Excellence at EMC Corporation (now Dell EMC) explains that “Tech products could earlier be built once in three years, now it needs to be done every six months. This requires critical skill sets at scale. And MNCs’ home centers don’t have that. India does.”

With a one billion population, India produces 1.5 million engineers every year (HRD ministry) which is 15 times the number of engineers produced by our so-called competition – other Southeast countries like Indonesia and Vietnam. 

So we have the numbers – what about the skills – well we have proof points there too. 

Education 

India has the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), one of the most sought-after engineering institutes in the world. Five out of its 16 campuses are listed in the Top 100 engineering colleges in the world. And in total, India has 6214 institutes working towards producing the best tech talent. 

This brings me to the third and last reason. 

Precedence 

It is not just we are producing a lot of engineering talent – this talent is also proving its might at global levels every now and then. From Sundar Pichai, an IIT Kharagpur graduate who leading Google, to Satya Nadella from Manipal Institute of Technology leading Microsoft – our talent has set a precedence of excellence, paving the path for the techies of tomorrow to follow their footsteps – and go beyond!

Sidu Ponnappa, head of Data Engineering at Go-Jek has already followed pursuit. He noticed the change in narrative these leaders have brought. Sidu believes that even if there was a time when companies outsourced due to affordability, that’s definitely not the case today. “Now they are doing it because we are better.” And I agree. 

Summing it up 

Time and again, our talent has proven its might. From the time when Aryabhatta gave the world zero to when Sundar Pichai revolutionized Alphabet (a.k.a. Google!), Indian talent has proven their mettle to the world and now the world knows their worth. It may sound like a cliche but my biggest motivation to write this article was to tell all the tech talent in India to “know their worth”. I know the world knows their value already. 

At the same time, I am not denying that India would always be a more cost-effective development center or engineering center for Silicon Valley. However, that consideration is not because our talent is more affordable. It’s because our talent is at par, is well-versed in English (yes, that matters!) and the cost of infrastructure and other amenities to set up the center is lower. So, the deal that top startups and enterprises get is that they acquire the best talent when they venture into India. 

Agree or disagree? You can always connect with me on LinkedIn and would love to hear your point of view over a virtual coffee!