My CAN-I Thought Process!: Relocation to India ??

March 03, 2004

Relocation to India ?? - Get Help!!!

Saroja Krishnan was anxious about her son Arun's school admission. She was coming back to India with her husband after living abroad for 15 years. She need not have worried. Within a month of her arrival in Bangalore, Saroja shortlisted three schools and soon Arun gained admission into an international school. All thanks to the efforts of a relocation services firm assigned by her husband's company.

Relocation services is a new sector that is gaining a lot of importance and demand due to the tech boom in Bangalore. With expatriates and NRIs literally coming in droves to live and work in the city, the need for specialised services in moving, relocation and settling in services has increased. Relocation covers a gamut of services ranging from city and country orientation, home search services, language support, help in documentation and paperwork, administrative support, tenancy management among others.

Most expat families are not aware of the culture and etiquette in India. It is difficult for them to maintain the standard of living they are used to in their country. That’s where a relocation consultant comes in to make their comfortable and smooth transition into India.

A helping hand
“It is about people management - managing people’s expectations. As soon as the client lands in India we provide support in immigration formalities, home search and settling in. We also identify international schools and good public schools for their children,” said Diwakar Gupta, Managing Partner, IKAN Services, which has been in this business for 7 years.

Relocation firms such as IKAN and Writer Corporation almost set up the lives of expats offering “hand-holding support” in finding homes, recommending home appliances, utilities, broadband connections, local registration, setting membership with expats clubs and finding good schools.

Large companies offer packages for their employees depending on their grade, seniority and position in the company.

Writer Relocation, the pioneer of such services boasts of a clientele list that includes Sun Microsystems, Hewlett Packard, GE, Microsoft and British Telecom. “We want to enable expats to hit the ground running as soon as they land here," said Charmaine Baptista, Country Manager, Writer Relocation.
Traditionally, the task of relocation was assigned to the HR department of the company. Slowly, as more and more expats and bigger multinational companies began to come in, the need for a professional firm that exclusively dealt with relocation was felt.

Now, many companies outsource expat management and relocation services - the advantages being cost reduction and standardised service.

Bangalore - Hot destination
When the Writer Corporation started Orientation services for expats in 1988, business came in from the metros, their clients mainly from MNCs and embassies or consulates. Bangalore hardly figured in the scheme of things till around 4 years ago.

The IT boom everything changed everything. In Bangalore alone, Writer Corp handled over 200 clients in the year 2002-03, a tremendous jump from 80 clients the previous year. Baptista claims that business has tripled in the last three years.

IKAN, a smaller firm has also seen the same trend in Bangalore with the city accounting for 60 percent of the company’s turnover in 2002-03. IKAN has offices in Mumbai, Pune, Mumbai and Hyderabad.

When IKAN started its Bangalore operations in 1999, the city accounted for just 10 percent of the company’s turnover. IKAN’s turnover has doubled to Rs 1.18 crore in 2002-03 compared to Rs 60 lakh in 2001-02. Some of their clients include Motorola, Agilent, American Express and Capitalone. This industry’s growth has been proportional to the boom in the IT industry. As a secondary industry and service provider, it is indispensable for MNC companies. But relocation services have not gained much visibility or recognition with Indian companies.

“It is difficult to convince Indian companies to make use of professional relocation services. Typically an employee is given a lumpsum allocation to fend for himself. His productivity is bound to suffer because of the culture shock of adjusting to a new city, taking care of formalities and making sure the family is also taken care of, " said Diwakar Gupta, IKAN Services.

“Also, if goods are damaged while moving, they can’t claim insurance cover,” he adds.

Gupta hopes the relocation sector gets recognition and acceptance as an industry. “We have been trying to create awareness through publicity efforts including sponsoring the National HRD meet in New Delhi in 2003.”

Sent by Kiran Kumar Jakkaraju.

Posted by Ramdhan Yadav at March 3, 2004 10:10 AM Perma Link

Comments

I don't know what this web page is about, but I need some help in locating a relocation agent to India. Can anyone (you) recommend someone ?

Thx

Posted by: Deb Ghosh at April 22, 2004 08:09 PM

Hi Deb,

IKAN http://www.ikan.com/ is the relocation agent that is mentioned in this article. Hope that helps.

Posted by: Ramdhan Kotamaraja at April 22, 2004 09:45 PM

WHEN CHOOSING AN AGENT/FIRM FOR PROVIDING RELOCATION SERVICES, be careful to select properly. I had a terrible experience in this area while moving from Boston to Bangalore. I hired the services of a company named Worldwide Relocations (www.wwrelocations.com). Absolutely pathetic service, do not go in for this company. Their functioning is worser than the worst governments of third world countries.
If you want specifics, send me an email at vbsiva@hotmail.com.

Posted by: Siva at February 28, 2005 09:58 AM

Writers Relocation Services sounds good on paper. Our experience when we moved through Writers was horrible.

Finding an house in Bangalore through Writers is the biggest joke. I really don't know what kind of value add they provide. They got real estate agents to show some properties. Even though we told Writers what we were looking for they took us to 11 properties and even one did not suit our requirements. The writers agent was looking at the house the first time along with us. His only job was to come along with us in the car, see the properties, and enter the information in the sheet.

When we found a house through an real estate agent they only threw more hurdles then actually helping us to close the deal.

My recommendation is to do it yourself as you have more control and get things done faster....

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Global Adjustments is a cross-cultural services company offering orientations and training to foreign business families relocating to India and to Indian business professionals collaborating with offshore parent companies

With both Indian and International consultants on our team, we offer a complete city orientation service, rental and sale of residential and commercial properties, Indian Culture and Etiquette courses to introduce the Indian way of life to expatriates and Business Culture, Communication and Etiquette courses for Indian professionals.

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We have worked with several multinational clients including Ford Motor Company, AirTouch, Cisco, Castrol, Hyundai, Mobil, Vivendi, Onyx, Cairn Energy, GSK, Fidelity, LSI Logic and many more.

We are headquartered in Chennai (formerly called Madras in South India) and have an office in Bangalore and efficient regional consultants working from Hyderabad, Trivandrum, Coimbatore, New Delhi, Kolkata, Ahmedabad and Mumbai.

Please do think of us if we can be of any assistance. Our website www.globaladjustments.com further explains the benefits of our services.

Posted by: Ranjini Manian at June 28, 2005 03:14 AM

i need to find 3-4 bhk apartment in the area rajajinagar & a school nearby.
also 3-4 bhk apartment near banaswadi along with school.

Posted by: kshama menon at September 7, 2005 03:48 AM

looking for flats & house in indiranagar koramangala whitefield air port road and surrounding area contact me

Posted by: prabhu at November 17, 2005 06:01 AM

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Posted by: Rahul /ph 0091-9845722772 at November 29, 2005 05:51 AM

Can anyone advise if there are any short term storage facilities for household goods in or around Delhi. Any help with contact details would be much appreciated.

Thanks

Posted by: dinesh dewan at April 3, 2006 07:23 AM

I was primarily looking for customs information while relocating. Any help on this will help. Thanks
ChetanP

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Dear sir / Madam

We would like to introduce ourselves as one of the finest international standard luxury serviced apartments in Bangalore. Also wish to have your expats to patronize our serviced apartments centrally located in the heart of the city. Ideal place for discerning tourists and busy corporate executives to make them real feel of Home away from home.

Please click below our official website with the pictures and area of our apartments and the facilities available with us.

Thanking & assuring you the best of our services at all times,

Nagendra

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Posted by: Anupama Paul at July 12, 2006 08:38 AM

Want to recommend a serviced apartment that meets with all international standards.So while you look around to find the house and to settle down,this would be a good alternative

Posted by: Mimosa Suites at August 11, 2006 12:58 AM

Palm greens
New Delhi
Hotel & Apartments

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Posted by: Phillip Ninan at March 17, 2007 05:34 AM

What would you do, if you are not afraid?

www.BPODigest.com i-Vortal

March 03, 2004

Relocation to India ?? - Get Help!!!