Recession hit American economy bounces back bigger than it did in the past two decades, reported Kauffman foundation. The Kauffman Index of Startup, which is the parameter that measures business creation is at an all-time high is something that Americans will have to rejoice about. But that is not reason enough for some Indian Americans to stay on in the Valley for India is calling.
It’s probably the first time in so many years, the Indian media is buzzing with words like “Reverse Brain Drain” or simply brain gain. Thanks to the e-commerce moguls like Flipkart, Snapdeal, Ola, OLX, Jabong, Bookmyshow, Zomato, Lenskart (to name a few) for creating lucrative deals for the leadership management executives.
It has been observed that e-commerce companies in the recent past enlisted 500 senior level job packages that start at Rs. 1crore each. These executives are mainly roped in for leadership, product and technology management roles. An RGF executive recalls, “We are filling in at least one position a day at the leadership level.”
Leadership and senior level talent supply houses like ABC Consultants, RGF Executive Search and Longhouse Consulting swear they haven’t seen this type of rush before in the Indian IT history.
In most cases, the candidates are lured from their big jobs for better flexibility and of course more remuneration. Many are sourced from big American companies like Google, Yahoo, McKinsey, IBM, Microsoft and so on.
Here’s a list of the business class passengers from Silicon Valley who returned back home:
| Name | Current Employer | Current Position | Previous employer (s) |
| Punit Soni | Flipkart | Chief Product Officer | Motorola, Google |
| Niket Desai | Flipkart | Leadership role | Motorola, Google |
| Peeyush Ranjan | Flipkart | Senior VP | |
| Jai Mani | Xiaomi India | CPO | |
| Namita Gupta | Zomato | CPO | Microsoft, Google |
| Tanmay Saksena | Zomato | Lead for online operations | Disney, Social Games, Playdom Inc |
| Gaurav Gupta | Snapdeal | VP | Cisco, ScaleArc |
Vivek Wadhwa who observed this trend says, “India is the new land of opportunity for these Indians who left home, many have already returned and more are set to return in 2-3 years. India will see a technology boom over the next 5 years that will make the US dotcom boom look lame.” Jai Mani, hired by Xiaomi exclaims, “I made the decision to move here in less than 30 seconds!”
Gaurav Gupta having spent more than a decade working for Cisco and ScaleArc in the Valley said, “Most of us always have an eye on the motherland; this time it’s fascinating to see India emerge as a producer of technology, not just a consumer” The salary packages match the ones in the Bay Area and when the reigns of the business are handed over, the work experience itself takes a dramatic turn. Tanmay Saksena, hired by Zomato quit his job as a VP at Disney’s Palo Alto office to join the restaurant discovery app exclaimed, “India is smelling like the Silicon valley”
Vishal Sikka was heading the security department in SAP but quit to revive the technological genius called Infosys. Since his appointment in 2014, Sikka has not only taken over the operations of the company and delivered results but has also rolled out commendable HR policies like the $10,000 senior level bonus, gifting iPhones-bravo but attracting great talent from his previous company SAP- we say genius. He has, since his appointment at Infosys, appointed more than 5 top level executives who were his colleagues back in SAP.
In the same scenario, HR companies are also reporting more no-shows from senior level execs. Jobs offered and accepted by many execs dishonor the deal for last minute blockbuster deals from rival companies without notice. The kind of demand that the IT sector and e-commerce are seeing is getting so intense and competitive, positions are being played around like toys.
This is one of our “Nadaan parindey ghar aaja” moment and we hope this phase stays. It’s Sayonara Sillicon Valley and Moshi Moshi India!
