India is on a radar from global perspective

With this new role in hand, what is the objective?

We are now in a lot of countries by design, over 38 countries, so we decided to go deeper in the countries where we already exist. So our entry in the India started several years ago partly with the acquisition of Vedior, the Vedior Group and Ma Foi company here in India and since we undertaking smaller acquisitions. We see India as an attractive market from the global perspective for a few reasons. One is, the GDP growth is substantial that’s always a key indicator for any market. Secondly, the rising middle class in India. Also the sheer size of the working population.

What will drive the future growth of Randstad India?

I have a vision to take Randstad along with the global initiative. The idea is to take Randstad out of the peer place staffing world and move it more into a professional services and total HR solutions partner. This is part of our evolution which is a big step, it’s a paradigm shift. It means our people need to be more solution minded.

How you rate India in terms of availability of good workforce?

 The latest data says 60% of the Indian population will be in the working population. So, by 2020, 60% of the 1.3 billion will be in the working population, so average age of that working population is under 30. Most of them are at 28. If you put that side by side on most developed country that’s incredible as a labour force in terms of power and future because it talks about young, ambitious and capable workforce. So India has a bright future. Add on top of that Prime Minister Modi, his three year anniversary today, he has done three key things we know about the digitalization, the demonetization, the skills India all of this connects very well and Make in India as well. So all of this comes back to why we are here in India as Randstad, our ambitious plans for the future and then why I’m here personally.

How to plan to penetrate your presence better?

We already have a solid geographic footprint. Also, I am quite pleasantly surprised by our mono-geographic footprint. We are in every major city where we need to be. We are in lots of tier two cities and tier three physical locations. We are in major cities such as Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Delhi. In Delhi, we have two locations including NCR. Then we are also in Hyderabad and Ahmadabad as well.

Typically, we look at our operations in cities where the population is at least a million people. So there will be opportunities there, so in total will be in India at around 22 entry locations.

What are the focus areas?

We have gone through a transformation ourselves from a peer place staffing firm which was all about temping, white collar. I would say, our main focus is on white collar. And then we expanded into other solutions which includes armed equipment and permanent recruit. So, of course, we are talking everything from IT to manufacturing to life sciences and so on.

What are your views on Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPOs) as a business model?

RPO is a very unique solution. The good news is that Randstad is arguably number one in the world in RPO. In the US, for example, where RPO was born, it is the most mature market and we are number one there under the brand Randstad Sourceright. So, we already have several active projects very successful here in India. We are building out that team, so part of the growth plan is one stream of that is RPO.

In terms of hunt for talent, where India stands globally?

India is on the radar from a global perspective. We have been talking about BPO for a long time, as many companies brought call centre based hiring here and so on. But it’s more than a shared services now. It’s not simply call centres, any more. The wind is blowing in the direction now that India is actually seen as a side pressured service center that is high quality, strong efficiency, highly capable workforce, both on the frontlines and at the leadership level and scalable.

Of course, English capability is one of India’s secret weapon which sometimes we undervalue. However, after I come from Japan, I think it’s one of the biggest weaknesses is the average English language ability. So this is actually one of India’s secret weapons followed by costs and arbitrage.

Which are the new countries that are catching up globally in terms of establishing manufacturing base or outsourcing functions?

In past, we have seen that in the supply chain of manufacturing around the world, China used to lead and then China got too expensive. Post China, Taiwan and Malaysia led the pack. The ones that are coming up particularly in the manufacturing space include Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia especially Cambodia and even recently Myanmar.

Are they threat to India?

No. Keeping India toe to toe with these countries, India has a huge advantage. This is a highly complex model that I think the countries we just listed up there are not prepared to deliver on. So India’s strategic advantage is that it ticks all the boxes.