| 1- Script
of Recording
Indian firms drain Western brains
BBV News Online
By Zubair Ahmed
BBC correspondent in Bombay
Published: March 16th, 2004
Skilled Indian professionals have
for years been travelling to the West in search of better job opportunities
and a higher standard of living, but now the traffic may have started
to flow from West to East.
Some of India's biggest companies have begun importing executives
from the US and Europe for the top jobs. According to one estimate,
there are about 20,000 Western expatriates working for indigenous
Indian companies.
Lars Lundqvist, a Swede, manages
a refinery owned by the chemicals to textiles conglomerate Reliance
Group in Gujarat on India's west coast. When he arrived five years
ago, he was one of the first Westerner to be employed by an Indian
company. Initially, Mr Lundqvist was a bit
apprehensive to come to India, even though he had worked
in several developing countries before.
"I had not even heard of Reliance,
but my wife said of course we should go, it'll be a great opportunity
to see another culture.When I came here, it was in the final stages
of construction, but I realised how big the refinery was. It is
not just a life-time opportunity for Indians, it was for me as well."
He said.
Reliance headhunted Mr Lundqvist
for his expertise in refinery safety and insists that he has indeed
introduced safety measures comparable with any refinery in the world.
Mr Lundqvist is one of more than 200 senior Western executives the
company brought over to India as part of a carefully drawn up business
plan to buy in skills Indians need to learn.
"There are certain jobs in
our projects which are passport independent because of the sheer
value they bring to the project," Reliance human resource manager
V V Bhat said. "I think most of the systems and processes Westerners
bring with them from their previous multi-national companies are
of great additional value here, and if you start a new company with
those systems and processes you've got a winner."
So although the trickle of foreign
executives has yet to become a trend, that could soon change, according
to Ms Toral Patel of the global Accord Group, which headhunt Westerners
for Indian companies. Ms Patel gets many calls from top-flight Western
executives seeking work in India, and they are in demand with many
Indian firms. She mentions the software giant Infosys which employs
300 foreigners, equivalent to 2% of its workforce. Similarly, the
raw materials giant Aditya Birla has 20 nationalities represented
in its 72,000 strong workforce, while the industrial conglomerate
Tata is another great example. The foreign specialists are warmly
welcomed by Indian workers who are told that that no Indian has
been deprived of his job because he is not a foreigner. Indians
know the expatriates are here for a limited period of time. They
enjoy working with them because they have so much to gain from them.
(Adapted
from
©BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/3515662.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/business/3515662.stm
End of Recording
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2- Opinion
Question:
Explain what has recently changed and what expatriation
means both for the expatriate and the host company. You should draw
information from the recording and from class material and give
specific examples. (350 to 400 words)
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Indian
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Indian
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