As Ahmedabad’s Growth Story Unfolds, It’s Getting Easier to Net Professionals from Mumbai

When hardcore Mumbaikar Ashwin Nair recently got a chance to relocate to Ahmedabad as a senior executive with a leading pharma company, he literally jumped at the opportunity.

“Ahmedabad offers the best of Mumbai, minus the side-effects. I have fallen in love with the warmth and competitive nature of the business community,” says Nair happily, only too glad to escape the drudgery of long commutes. Ditto for banker Prashant Gupta, who did not think twice before trading in a hectic Mumbai life for a more wholesome professional career as a top private sector bank honcho in Ahmedabad.
   
Yes, no longer perceived as an overgrown village, Mega-City Ahmedabad is right on top of the favourite work-spots list, as top companies and even headhunters will tell you. “Attracting manpower to mega city Ahmedabad from Mumbai is no longer an issue,” says Torrent group chairman Sudhir Mehta, referring to earlier struggles in getting top talent to Ahmedabad. Agrees recruitment firm Ma Foi’s general manager Vinod Meghrajani: “Till about five years ago a Mumbaikar offered an Ahmedabad posting thought you were crazy.

Today, with Ahmedabad’s perception changing, people no longer mind relocating because because they are able to save much more here and enjoy a better life.” Head-hunters vouch for Ahmedabad’s zooming acceptibility with job seekers, that has resulted in an overall 60% jump in hiring and a nearly 70-80% increase in number of people willing to relocate from Mumbai over the past two-three years.

All thanks to much lower cost of living due to reasonable real estate and transportation costs. As an HR professional with a leading infrastructure firm explains: “A lower cost of living means a bigger opportunity to save in Ahmedabad. For spending, we have the best of shopping malls.”

Adds Ahmedabad HRD Network president H K Gupta, “Apart from the fact that today the city offers more job opportunities the recent subtle relaxations in prohibition too have helped raise Ahmedabad’s perception by a few pegs in the eyes of u pw a rd ly mobile professionals.” “A h m e d - abad has emerged from the shadows of Mumbai. A hefty package is no longer the only carrot to get people to shift to Ahmedabad. Today we pitch a moderately fast-paced professional life coupled with quality time with family, something impossible in Mumbai,” says Torrent Pharma GM-HR K Ramchandran.