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Foreign head honchos returning to India with new mandates due t

  • MUMBAI: A close friend who has worked with him in the past dubs him a 'jugadu' - a local word to describe the attitude of getting the job done any which way. Nothing unusual about that - Indian business is known to thrive with the help of such ingenuity - except that Mr Jugadu in this case is not an Indian but an Englishman who's set for his second professional stint in the country.

    For a little over four years, till December 2011, Karl Slym was managing director of General Motors. In January 2012, he moved to China to lead one of GM's joint ventures there. In October, Slym will be back in India, as MD of Tata Motors.

    Slym is not the first expat to be headed for a second wind in India. Of late, a number of foreign head honchos - most from Europe - have begun coming back to the country they had done an earlier stint with. And in most cases the new role is at a different company.

    Sunil Goel, director of GlobalHunt India, a recruitment firm, says the number of expats returning to India across sectors such as telecom, mining, banking & financial services, automobiles, infrastructure, pharma and retail has risen 20-25% over the past year.

    FOR EXECS, SITUATION GRIM IN HOME COUNTRIES

    The grim economic situation in much of the developed world is of course the main reason for their eagerness to come back. "When they return to their home countries after experiencing India and see a visible difference, they are happier to return," adds Goel.

    Also, most Indian metros are cosmopolitan and there are hardly any language constraints compared to markets such as China. Improved physical infrastructure and healthcare and education services coupled with compensation levels that match global standards make the decision to return easier, too.

    After all, most CEOs return largely because of career prospects; the family often has had to make adjustments and compromises in the past in terms of standards of education, accommodation and living.

    "I returned to be in a growing market as in comparison developed markets are stagnant, but on a personal level, my family was equally happy to be in India; and my children speak good Hindi too," says Mark Ashman, now CEO of the K Raheja Group-led HyperCITY. Before joining the hypermarket chain, Ashman had crafted Marks & Spencer's (M&S) India retail strategy and then went on to become CEO of the JV between the British retailer and Reliance Retail.

    After completing his India assignment in April 2010, Ashman went on to leadership positions with M&S in Europe and the Middle East, but was back in India - with HyperCITY - in less than a year. "There is so much satisfaction in building businesses for the future," says the retailing maven who stays with wife Alexandra and children Benjamin and Isabella in Juhu, an upscale Mumbai suburb.

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