Growth of Developing Nations – Asian Scenario
Asian
countries were lagging far behind only 2 decades ago are now making rapid strides in the development and growth Asian countries are now
world leaders in specialized areas competing with the west to grab share of world markets.
Japan is a well known developed
country of Asia, a leader in Automobiles and electronic gadgets of the world. The other countries which are still coined as ‘developing’ are fast catching up in other fields. For example India and China for software, Singapore for shipping, Malayasia in food processing, Korea for its white goods are very well known by now.
China and India are identified as the 2 nations whose economy even may over take U.S.A in about 2 decades or less. But there are no 2 opinions that China’s progress is much much faster than that of India. In this context
Mr.A.M.Naik the head of Larsen & Toubro Ltd an
Engineering conglomerate of India and of business size $ 345 billion was stressing on the need of stopping braindrain if India has to speed up Nation building.The Company has already made its mark by bagging prestigious projects from all over the world with workforce of 12000 engineers and require about 2000 fresh engineers annually to sustain growth. This he highlighted. while talking in a specially called Press conference.
Mr.A.M.Naik and several other top executives like him in India are battling new problems for which there seems to be no answer. Engineers and other skilled professional are leaving Indian companies in groups and this problem has grown to alarming proportions in Indian Industry in general and Engineering Industry in particular.. The attrition rate is currently 25% because of which planned growth of Indian Industries are stunted. Finding replacement for these professionals have almost become near to impossible. Over and above mentioned problems Engineering graduates in India nowadays do not want work for manufacturing
firms. They are on the lookout to work for new economy IT firms.
Meritorious students joining engineering colleges are now opting for computer science and electronics instead of earlier most sought after branches Mechanical, Electrical and Civil. Even if they complete Mechanical Enginering Graduation they are joining firms like Larsen & Toubro to work for about 2 years to build up domain expertise and leave for leading IT firms.
Who is responsible to build for India Roads, Ports and Bridges? Tells L&T Head to the press that the infrastructure development requires engineers with core manufacturing specialization and not IT specialization. Mr. Naik is annoyed because of new problems arising which has no answers . His staff are Leaving
the Industry in droves.
Many Top managers like Mr. Naik are of the opinion that of late talent is lacking in India because the students passing out Engineering either go to USA or Europe or different countries of the world. The leftover join the Indian companies only leaving to gain the platinum touch.
Mr.Naik points out that nobody in the country is conscious of the nature of braindrain and how other developed nations are cashing in on the Indian talent pool. He is of the strong opinion that while India is not able to tap their own resources because of brain drain , China is able to do it progressing at a faster pace because the Chinese do not leave their country to work for others . The Global Engineering firms are setting up industries in India but they get the manufacturing done by China. The outsourcing jobs coming to India are worth $ 17 billon and we do not realize that the created assets worth $300 billion for others Every $ 30 million services that go out of the country it deprives the country of assets worth $1 billion urges Mr.Naik.
At the end of the Press Conference several questions were raised by the Press Reporters. One of the critical question asked was whether the CEOs of affected Indian companies have appraised the government aboutt this serious problem. Immediately Mr.Naik sees Red, he told the reporters the government pats the back of new Economic players like Infosys and Wipro for earning some Foreign Exchange and all Management and Leadership awards go to them.
They may be bringing Foreign Exchange but at what cost , surely at the cost of Nation building. It is a vicious cycle.
How long India and similar Asian countries are to be used as Cheap source of Talent ? To answer this the governments must play a constructive role firstly to prevent Brain Drain and secondly to strike a balance between Foreign Exchange Earnings and Nation Building. One of the ideas immediately comes up to mind is that the Indian Industry together with the Government must see that the skilled talent are well paid , Adequate Job security must be provided and at the same time the growth opportunities provided shall be abundant. The earlier this is done the better for the Nations affectd.