The Hindu Business Line : CXOs find desi cos more exciting than MNCs

Bangalore, Jan. 16 Ajay Srinivasan, who was Chief Executive at Prudential quit the company to join the Aditya Birla Group as Chief Executive for the financial services division. At Prudential, he was managing businesses across 10 countries.

Rangu Salgame, who was President, Cisco India, South Asia and South East Asia is now President, Tejas Networks, a Bangalore-based optical networking products company.

The top honchos of Indic Inc are now looking at exciting assignments at domestic companies. Executive search firms in the country say top leadership in the country now find MNC jobs ‘dead boring’ and it’s actually top slots in desi companies that are giving them the ‘highs.’

Mr K. Sudarshan, Managing Partner of EMA Partners International, a global search firm, who spotted the trend about a year ago, explains that CXOs find jobs in Indian companies exciting because “they are closer to the centre of gravity from the control point of view.” This also means they can influence actions positively and have the benefit of those actions translate into better wealth creation opportunities.

High growth

With Indian companies getting listed at phenomenal values, some attracting valuations in the range of Rs 10,000 crore, an MNC job would fade in comparison. Moreover, MNCs are not growing as fast as some of the Indian companies in sectors like financial services, real estate, power and infrastructure, says Mr Sunit Mehra, Country Manager, Hunt Partners, an international CEO and Board search firm. “The total package in companies from these sectors would be more. And Indian companies are not shying away from paying higher packages to get high-calibre people on board.”

Lack experience

However, Indian companies are not attracted to executives in certain functions such as fund raising, IPO management, M&As, strategy and investor relations at MNCs in the country. “Some Indian companies tell us that they do not want to hire people from MNCs as they lack the necessary experience in these roles,” he says.

The lure of the Indian firm also lies in the diversity of business opportunities they present, points out Mr Mehra. “Look at the way Pantaloon has morphed from manufacturing to retail to financial services. The same goes for Reliance ADAG.” Added to all this is the emotional bonding that Indian companies give that executives are now getting comfortable with. With India Inc getting more structured, more professional and larger than ever before, it is really opportunity knocking at the door of Indian executives.

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