Indian companies exploit Singapore as springboard while hiring own race

[kingrant]

Naturally these nationals will be given PRs and SCs liberally, including their village folks.
Now you know why everywhere is flooded with Indians, fair northern Indians who have that 'atas' attitude. You can wonder how many locals are actually hired and how our own citizens benefit...note the last sentence.

http://www.edb.gov.sg/edb/sg/en_uk/index/news/articles/indian_it_companies.html

March 03, 2010
Singapore is also emerging as a centre for Indian IT companies to develop new products and solutions for different markets.


Over the past nine years, the number of Indian companies in Singapore has more than tripled to 4,090 such that it constitutes the largest foreign business community in Singapore. The Reserve Bank of India's January 2010 report on Indian Investment Abroad highlighted Singapore as the top destination for Indian overseas investments. Many of these companies chose Singapore because it has strong governance which allows them to carry out substantive activities in a tax-efficient environment. While this growth is spread across various sectors including manufacturing, logistics and education, the strongest growth comes from India's IT industry.


Leveraging Strengths
Indeed, Singapore’s trusted environment, connectivity to the region and cultural similarities mark the Republic as an ideal location for Indian companies to establish a base to engage the region. Indian companies have chosen to establish their regional headquarters and R&D centres in Singapore to cater to the 7,000-plus multi-national corporations (MNCs) here, including the rest of Southeast Asia. To date, Singapore hosts the regional headquarters of almost all of India’s top 10 IT companies, including HCL Technologies and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS).


HCL Technologies has benefitted from Singapore’s burgeoning demand for IT services. Having contributed to Singapore’s IT landscape for 27 years, it has grown from a computer manufacturer to a leading systems integrator in the region. The company also expanded operations into Malaysia, and continues to provide world-class solutions at competitive prices to clients in Singapore.


TCS, in turn, has taken advantage of Singapore’s excellent labour force and reliable telecommunications connectivity to set up a Banking Technology Centre of Excellence. Offering specialised IT services and training for banking technologies, the centre is a first-time initiative of TCS and serves as a model for other banks in the region.


Singapore’s strategic location in the Asia Pacific region and vibrant IT ecosystem of technology and service providers have attracted new entrants. Yalamanchili and Nityo Infotech are using the country as a springboard to enter regional markets.


Yalamanchili, an application software product company with a strong presence in the Indian subcontinent, moved to Singapore to access markets

in Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands. Y. Ramakrishna, Managing Director, Yalamanchili, reveals that Singapore will serve as a regional business development hub for the IT firm. “Singapore’s multiculturalism, multifaceted society and cosmopolitan climate attract good international talent,” he says. “This will enable Yalamanchili to establish a concept centre that develops new application products and solutions for the different markets across the world.”

Ramakrishna adds that Singapore’s status as a global business hub has increased the company’s profile by providing the right kind of exposure and making it easy to forge business relationships. One example is Yalamanchili’s joint venture with credit card giant Visa Inc. for payment processing matters. “Setting up in Singapore has definitely enabled us to make inroads into the region, resulting in an increase in business,” he says.


Secure Environment
Singapore’s lack of natural disasters and robust infrastructure also make it a safe environment for IT firms to establish data centres, and conduct business continuity and disaster recovery activities. This has been especially beneficial for Nityo Infotech, a global management consulting and technology services firm that offers comprehensive business and technological solutions to key industry verticals, including telecommunications, manufacturing and healthcare.


In addition to the country’s reputation for safety, Thyagarajan Balachandar, Director, Nityo Infotech, cites the city-state’s quality infrastructure and flexible immigration policies as reasons for setting up headquarters here. Says Balachandar, “It is a matter of prestige to have our regional headquarters in Singapore. We have been awarded International Headquarters (IHQ) status here, and we also enjoy tax benefits.”


While Singapore’s pro-business environment enables Indian IT companies to flourish, its connectivity to the region and world-class living standards will continue to attract investors and diverse talent from the rising Asian power, further cementing bilateral ties between the two countries.

 

[kingrant]

If this is not true, why today we are all feeling so overcrowded?

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http://www.chinapost.com.tw/business/asia/singapore/2011/05/27/303908/60000-jobs.htm

60,000 jobs for Indians not true: Singapore


By Ravi Velloor,The Straits Times/Asia News Network



NEW DELHI/SINGAPORE--Firmly placed in the center of the world's most promising growth area, Singapore-based companies continue to hire steadily, with talent from India benefiting from the demand.


But 60,000 new jobs for Indian nationals? No way.


That was Singapore's Ministry of Manpower's (MOM) response to queries from The Straits Times about a Times of India report which claimed that Singapore expected to hire 300,000 mid- to senior-level workers this year. It cited unnamed hiring firms as saying that 60,000 of them would be from India.


The Times report has generated a buzz among the social networking community in Singapore, with many posting the article online. This, in turn, drew comments from other users, including many who asked if the hiring of foreigners would continue unabated. The influx of foreign workers was a hot-button issue in the May 7 General Election.


In its response, however, the MOM called the 60,000 figure “unrealistic.”


It pointed out that for the whole of last year, when Singapore saw sparkling economic growth of 14.7 percent, 59,700 foreign workers were hired from a spread of countries including India, China and Malaysia. This brought the total number of Employment Pass and S Pass holders to 240,000.


It added that in 2009, when Singapore saw negative growth, foreign employment fell by 4,200.


With growth for this year forecast at between 5 and 7 percent, “we expect a more moderate pace of employment growth,” the ministry said.


Recruiters contacted agreed that the figure was excessive but said hiring would still be strong.


“With a three-year-low unemployment rate of 1.9 percent in Singapore, we have a tighter labor market and competition for talent,” said Linda Teo, head of business services for Manpower Inc., a recruitment firm.


“Forty-four percent of employers we interviewed reported difficulties in filling jobs. Broadening the search outside Singapore is one of the strategies employers implement.”


Clients usually asked the firm to recruit from countries such as the Philippines and Malaysia, according to Teo.


“The technology sector is doing fantastically well,” said Zubin Shroff, a partner in executive search firm Braithwaite Steiner Pretty, which focuses on senior-level talent from its offices in Battery Road and Shenton Way. “Typically, in this sector, we find that between 10 and 20 percent of outside talent is from India.”


Shroff, who places between 12 and 15 senior-level executives annually, was in the Indian technology hub of Gurgaon last week to interview candidates for two managing director-level positions in Singapore.


“Singapore has come to the fore as a technical support hub for the region,” he said. “There was a time when Sydney was the expat location of choice for regional roles. Then you had Tokyo and Hong Kong. But Singapore has left everyone else far behind.”


It is this hub status that is driving a lot of recruitment outside Singapore, recruiters say.


Also, when top-level Indians are hired, many demand that the position be based in Singapore, where they feel most comfortable culturally and their families feel secure. All this gives the impression of a bigger Indian presence than is the case.


“Financial services are seeing strong demand and we are also seeing requests in the infrastructure space,” said Atul Kumar, senior partner at search firm Amrop International. He added that another such sector is the automotive one.


Almost every recruiter says the first preference is always for local talent because it makes sense both from a market-knowledge point of view and costs to the company.


“Banking, shipping, oil and gas, engineering ... they are all hiring,” said Ms Y.C. Jayanthi, the Bangalore-based head of recruitment firm Ad Astra Consultants, which has offices across Asia.


“After a difficult 2009, we saw strong hiring in the second half of last year. That trend is sustaining this year. As always,

 

[CakeLengKia]

Then how come there are so many Indian Borned kelings around?