By SOMAN BABY
HIRING professionals from India in Bahrain is becoming extremely difficult due to improved salaries and incentives there, according to a visiting recruiting agency chief.
This is coupled with an unprecedented demand for skilled workers and professionals in India, said Andhra Pradesh Recruiting Agents Association president Mohammed Abdul Razzak.
It means that employers in Bahrain have to pay more to get good workers from India, he added.
“India requires the services of the majority of its skilled and experienced workers back home to work on its infrastructure development projects,” Mr Abdul Razzak told the GDN.
“Because of the economic boom being experienced in India, their salaries back home have increased. It is now on a par with what is paid in the Gulf or even more”.
Mr Abdul Razzak, who is the managing director of the Hyderabad-based Razzak Enterprises, said he was finding it difficult to recruit engineers for the Gulf.
“An 11.4km flyover project in Hyderabad requires the services of 600 engineers,” he added.
“As there is a shortage of engineers locally, Indian companies are now ready to recruit Indian engineers from the Gulf offering them higher salaries.”
Mr Abdul Razzak appealed to companies in the Gulf to increase the salary of their workers.
“We can still get good workers from different parts of India for projects in the Gulf, provided they pay a decent salary and good accommodation,” he added.
“Many companies in Saudi Arabia and UAE have already increased the salary of their workers by 30 per cent”.
Mr Abdul Razzak, who has been in business for 32 years, has recruited thousands of workers for different Gulf countries.
He appealed to employers in the Gulf to deal only with approved recruiting agents.
“There are about 6,000 authorised recruiting agents,” said Mr Abdul Razzak.
“However, the unauthorised agents are mushrooming, and their number has reached more than 20,000.
“These unscrupulous sub agents are the ones who exploit poor unskilled workers seeking jobs in the Gulf, by charging huge service fees”.