And it isn’t the only one. Leading Indian names like Wipro, Infosys, TVS, Dr Reddy’s and the Tata group, have turned into corporate classrooms for executives from the rest of the world, who’re flying down to get a first-hand feel of the Indian way of doing business. And in doing so they hope to pick up cues on the role emerging markets will play in the global economy, and equip their leaders to face the future. “They’re getting the leaders of tomorrow to understand the markets of tomorrow,” says Satish Pradhan, executive VP, group HR, Tata Sons.

So what’s fuelling India’s newfound status as a learning ground? The size of the business opportunity for one, and, more significantly, a realisation that there’s a huge talent pool waiting to be leveraged to its fullest potential. Says Poonam Barua, regional director-India, The Conference Board, “India has to feature in any contract, any strategic plan that’s submitted. They’re looking at a region they cannot ignore.” Indeed, we’ve come a long way from the time companies were looking mainly to China for business, with India being seen as a poor cousin. “Now,” says Pradhan, “we’re at a stage where it’s not an either-or option.”

Indeed, as the inevitability of this fact dawns on global corporations, they’re queuing up to get on the next plane to India. Sample this. Over the past five years, as part of an annual ritual under its Global Leadership 2020 programme, Professor Vijay Govindarajan of the Tuck School of Business has brought over 200 executives from US and European multinationals such as Bang & Olufsen, BT Group, Colgate-Palmolive, Corning, Ford, LVMH and Wal-Mart, down to India. The objective, says Govindarajan, is to let these executives experience India “first hand”, at many levels — as a huge consumption market, as a recapital, as a source of business model innovation or simply, a country that’s home to global competitors.

Pratik Kumar, VP-HR, Wipro, says, “For a lot of multinational companies, whose talent has been outside of India, the country is suddenly a big and captivating story. And they all want to get a flavour of that story.” Whether it’s IT, pharma R&D, banking and financial services or automotive manufacturing, there’s a huge interest in learning w h a t ’s m a k i n g India the e m e r g i n g powerhouse it is today. While some companies are interested in picking up tips on new business development from pioneers in the same industry, others are keen on sharing best practices and ideas. Yet others are looking at leadership traits that
will help them be effective in the coming decade. And they realise that these traits may not necessarily be found inside multi-billion dollar corporations that have thrived successfully in a structured and relatively stable environment of the past, but within entrepreneurial set-ups in emerging economies like India.

Breakthrough innovations apart, most executives from the developed economies also get a grassroots flavour of the real India, where, as Kumar puts it, “technology and cows co-exist.” So while the sight of a farmer deploying dated farming methods while carrying a cell phone can be a shock, it’s also sensitising them to the opportunity that lies before them.

But is the India Romance just another sweeping trend? Barua, insists that this time around, the India story is for real, and the efforts to tap into it, serious. “This is not a honeymoon for India,” she says. Indeed, some companies are now taking this a step further and even posting some of their top executives from their international operations in India for limited-period assignments, where they intend to plough back their leanings into the parent company’s global business practices.

This for sure says a lot for Indians on the look out for global opportunities. An apt qualification tucked under the sleeve can well be a passport for a global career ahead.