A few days ago, Sandeep Girotra
was appointed as head, India region for NSN, to lead the equipment vendor’s
India business. Nokia Siemens Networks employs 15,000 people in India,
regarding it as a priority market as well as a global innovation hub and
delivery base. The company’s Indian manufacturing operations, global delivery
centers and research and development facilities reflect Nokia Siemens Networks’
focus on proximity to key customers and regions.

 

This is not the first time that a global telecom
infrastructure company has hired an Indian to run its business. At NSN, Ashish
Chowdhary, head of customer operations east and a member of the company’s
executive board, has been acting as head for its India business since January
2011, and in his new role, Girotra will report to Chowdhary.

 

In the last few years, other equipment vendors like
Alcatel-Lucent, Cisco, Motorola and ZTE have also hired many Indians to run their ventures in the country. Companies
such as Ericsson and Huawei have been managed by foreign hands for a long time.
Indians are responsible for the success of phone majors Sony Ericsson and Nokia
India. This trend has also spread abroad, where Indians are also being hired in
top management positions of leading global companies.  

 

Last year, Alcatel Lucent promoted Munish Seth, as
country head for its Indian business, who took over from Vivek Mohan,
who used to head Alcatel-Lucent’s global services business till last month.
Seth reports to Rajeev Singh-Molares, who is president of the Asia-Pacific region.
In July, Alcatel Lucent hired Arun Seth,
executive chairman of BT India, to be chairman of Alcatel Lucent’s India
operations. Similarly, D K Ghosh was chairman and MD of ZTE’s India operations
for five years since his appointment in 2006, till his resignation in March
2011. Motorola and Cisco also have Indian CEOs. In other sectors also like banking,
finance, pharma and industry, Indians have been hired in top global management
positions recently.

 

The Indian telco environment today is the most
competitive in the world. Cost margins are at the lowest in the world and yet,
most efficiently managed. Thus, someone who is experienced is needed to head
this market, who also has a capacity to work with less. Indian CEOs are trained
to do this and have experience for the same,” said Romal Shetty, head Telecom,
KPMG.

 

Besides, given the wafer thin profits, most Indian
telcos today have a very small margin for error, so there is no room for
mistakes, and hence, it is better to hire Indians who are more experienced on
working in these markets. Indians also have more global exposure today and have
an ability to manage constraints and costs and work in difficult positions
better. This is why they are being increasingly hired abroad as well,” Shetty
added.

 

Indian telecom market is the most dynamic, competitive
and tough market in the world. To sustain in this market is not easy and
experience of someone, who has survived and done well in this market is well
appreciated across the globe,” said Abhishek Chauhan, senior consultant, ICT
Practice, Frost & Sullivan, South Asia & Middle East.

 

From the telecom point of view, certain technicalities
that are unique to the Indian market also make for a better business choice to
hire a local hand.

 

Indian mobile operators have to deal on a daily basis
with a level of operational and technology scarcity that is not seen in most
other countries. For example, the average cell density in an Indian metro is 7x
what it is in an average European metro.  So it might be that Indian CTOs
and equipment vendor leaders are just more expert at managing spectral
efficiency and cost pressure than their other counterparts,” said Mohammad
Chowdhury, executive director, Telecoms Industry Leader,
PricewaterhouseCoopers.

 

It remains to be seen whether the trend of hiring Indian
managers to lead the Indian business of global equipment vendors will continue
even after the Indian government begins giving SOPS to Indian manufacturers to
start manufacturing their own telecom equipment for their needs – as well as
for export.

 

By Beryl M
[email protected]