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Now, NRI researchers heading home

Meera Mohanty

Opportunities opening up in pharma sector

With companies committed to their research programmes, scientists see a personal future for their careers.

New Delhi , Nov. 10

Call it reverse brain drain, but individuals equipped with cutting-edge scientific knowledge are returning to the Indian shores to contribute to R&D in the pharmaceutical and biotech sector.

Though the rush of NRIs returning began some years ago, now it's the turn of highly qualified specialists to lend the country their niche skill sets.

"The silver lining to this booming economy is that not only are many coming back, but not many are leaving the country," says Dr Swati A. Piramal, Director-Strategic Alliances & Communications of Nicholas Piramal India Ltd (NPIL).

"Our Chief Scientist is an American citizen with 35 years of experience behind him," she points out, referring to Dr Somesh Sharma of NPIL.

Dr Sharma hasn't been the only high profile acquisition of the industry in the recent past, top players such as Ranbaxy and Dr Reddy's too have wooed many high level scientists.

But it's the researchers themselves from countries like the US, Australia and West Asia who are now seeking out opportunities here, says Ms Kanika Vaswani, Associate Partner at recruitment firm, Elixir Web Solutions.

It's not a deluge, says Dr Reddy's, but definitely a positive trend. About 25 per cent of those hired for specialised research work at the company have been scientists from abroad. "The opportunities here are suddenly very exciting," says Mr Prabir Jha, Senior Vice-President, Human Resources and Communications, Dr Reddy's.

"Being pioneers of R&D, our labs are comparable to the best in the US. To that there is a sense of pride doing it for an Indian MNC," says Mr Jha. It's not the money, says Mr Jha, "we don't particularly offer a dollar premium for people to come back."

Pay scales for niche R&D roles range from Rs 80,000 to Rs 2 lakh per month. "You can't multiply the pay slip figure by 45, but companies are ensuring a purchasing power parity," says Mr D.G. Shah, Secretary-General, Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance.

It's not a fly by night opportunity, points out Mr Shah. With companies committed to their research programmes, scientists see a personal future for their careers.

Says Mr Sreevatsa Natarajan, General Manager-Project Management, Ranbaxy, who has made the change recently, "With the patent regime changing there is lot of incentive for innovative research. It's beneficial to be a part of the early life cycle of the industry both from a personal point of view as well as being a participant in the growth of the industry."

Mutual benefit

The trend is of course beneficial to both employee and employer. While the former is able to get back to the family fold, the latter gets the specialisation advantage. "When you get someone at a senior level with years' of experience at Merck or Pfizer they are bringing back valuable knowledge and the industry is willing to pay for it," says Mr Shah.

According to Elixir, the rush to do clinical trials here will create even more incentives. It is NRI researchers who are likely to fill the demand as Indian Ph.D. holders have yet to catch up with the industry. "There is big gap in the number of doctorates and the skill sets they come equipped with, whether it is in bionalytics for clinical research, or even biology or medical chemistry, there is shortage across the board," says Dr Piramal.

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