The Hindu Business Line : Pharma cos may gain in talent due to US slowdown

Hyderabad, Nov. 5 The pharmaceuticals industry may stand to gain from the economic slowdown in the US and parts of Europe as far as the availability of quality manpower is concerned.

With many questions looming large over the fate of multinational companies involved in banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) and information technology, the cream of talent may now consider the pharmaceutical sector as a safe avenue to park themselves, according to experts.

“It is true that some of the sectors which were hit by the US slowdown such as consulting and BFSI were on the top of the agenda of highly talented job-seekers till recently. But now, there could be some shift in their preferences as the pharma industry is relatively better shielded from any adverse impact,” Mr Prabir Kumar Jha, Global Head of Human Resources, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd, told Business Line.

The unpleasant news of downsizing the headcount or decreasing or withholding promised and projected pay hikes are not heard of in the pharma circles so far and this might lure people to the industry.

“In our own company, things are very smooth and normal. Increments have been given and recruitment plans are very much intact,” Mr Jha said.

Multinationals based out of India are also expecting that the human resource availability may actually increase in the current scenario.

“This is driven by the fact that the pharma industry is insulated (to a large extent) from the global economic development because of the fact that healthcare needs are unavoidable. Marketing and strategic teams may expect inflow of talent from other sectors,” Mr Subhanu Saxena, Chief Executive Officer and President of Novartis US, said on the sidelines of a meet at ISB here recently.

The trend may clearly be seen in the ensuing placement season in top business schools. “Consulting and BFSI sectors have been taking in a lot of people till recently. We are expecting that this may move to pharma, biotech and healthcare from this year due to the downturn,” Mr M. Rammohan Rao, Dean, ISB, said.

Last year, out of 421 students, pharma sector recruited 31 as against 95 and 143 in the finance and IT services sectors, respectively.

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