Hire locals to fend off protectionism: Murthy

Indian IT companies should hire more locals for their front-end operations to protect them from the rising protectionist measures in the western countries.

“We will have to recruit the local people for front-end operations to mitigate the discomfort and outsourcing fears,” N R Narayana Murthy, Infosys mentor, said at an event organised by the All India Management Association here.

He also said, the country had to decrease its visibility in those markets.

“China exports $1.1 trillion against India’s $50 billion. But, nobody talks about Chinese exports, which is one of the reasons for loss of jobs in Western countries, because they are invisible,” Murthy added.

Hire Englishmen in England, hire Americans in US and the Brazilian in Brazil, he said.

About the emerging opportunities in the country, Murthy said youngsters should be part of India’s growth story.

“Somehow our youngsters have all assumed the idea of joining this industry is to go to the US, get there, get an H1B, convert it into green card and settle down there. I think it is a wrong solution, a wrong strategy,” he said.

This time Indian youth have a great opportunity to cons-olidate by working in India, by becoming a good quality professional which will sustain the advantage that have been created in the country, he added.

Murthy also stressed on the importance of English medium schools in every state.

“Job opportunities avail-able to children who go to English medium schools generally are seen to be of a higher quality and is a reality whether one likes it or not,” he said.