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Expats look afield to suburbia
Like Prock-Schauer, there are other expats now opting for suburbs like Bandra, Khar and Powai rather than in South Mumbai where the big boys of India Inc like the Ambanis and the Birlas live. Lalatendu Mishra tells us more.
When Jet Airways CEO Wolfgang Prock-Schauer shifted to India, he chose to stay in Powai instead of Mumbai’s upscale Malabar Hill or Peddar Road.
Like Prock-Schauer, there are other expats now opting for suburbs like Bandra, Khar and Powai rather than in South Mumbai where the big boys of India Inc like the Ambanis and the Birlas live. In Delhi, expats prefer Gurgaon over Vasant Vihar.
“This is primarily due to proximity to work places and greater facilities available in new areas. In Mumbai, most expats stay in Bandra and Khar as they have offices in BKC and Andheri. The American school in Bandra is also another attraction, apart from the social life they enjoy here,” said Govin de Souza, joint MD, Writer Corporation, which relocates expats to India. With Bandra getting saturated, Andheri East and Powai are the new hot favorites.
Expats have been increasingly taking up assignments in India as a result of a booming economy and the vast opportunities in the aviation, infrastructure, automobiles, IT and oil & gas sectors.
Experts say their numbers are swelling by 30 per cent, as working in India becomes rewarding both in terms of money and careers.
An estimated 80,000 expats are now working in India; 25,000 more expected soon. “Most of them are stationed in the IT hubs of Bangalore and Chennai. They are also located in Delhi and Mumbai in large numbers,” de Souza said.
De Souza’s Writer Corporation controls 70 per cent of the Rs 130 crore organised international relocation business in India and almost all MNCs and even Indian firms hiring its services.
