Wednesday, February 23 2005 11:34 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Washington: Top Indian information technology companies are recruiting American executives on salaries and bonuses very generous even by American standards, in order to expand in the American market as also to improve efficiency at home, reports said.

The growing financial clout of Indian software giants and other Indian outsourcing companies is allowing Indian companies to woo western executives, especially with higher salaries, the 'Wall Street Journal' said in a report.

Six or seven figures are often involved and equity is also in play, says Rohit Ambekar, an Asia-based partner with Morgan Howard Worldwide, a Stanford, Connecticut, executive search company.

Headhunters working for Indian companies say that their clients have to pay a premium to attract US talent due to their companies' lower profiles and limited track records.

In one recent case, says the paper, an Indian company offered an American executive a base salary of $ 3,50,000 per annum plus a potential bonus of $ 2 million over two years to join its US operations, according to an executive with knowledge of the deal.

The executive's salary at his US company was $ 3,00,000 annually plus stock options equal to around $ 1.2 million over four years. US companies, meanwhile, say they are competing aggressively with Indian companies for both talent and market share.

American company EDS has nearly 3,000 workers in India focusing on software development and back-office duties, and expects to add 2,000 more this year (2005).