The two-day Global Investors Meet (GIM), the most prestigious initiative undertaken by the BJP government of Karnataka, was set off to a roaring start, aided by the presence of industry bigwigs on the opening day yesterday. B S Yeddyurappa, chief minister of Karnataka was able to garner promises of investment in the state worth Rs. 3.29 lakh crore on Day one with potential to create 3 lakh new jobs.

The investors in attendance on Thursday were many from Forbes list of richest Indians including Lakshmi N Mittal, Azim Premji, Kumar Mangalam Birla, Kris Gopalakrishnan, Shasi Ruia, Vijay Mallya and Venu Srinivasan. In all, 206 MoUs were signed on Day one. The GIM is targeting 400 MoUs worth Rs. 3.5 lakh crore giving rise to 6.5 lakh new jobs.

“We want to make Karnataka a model state globally, known for its vibrant economy and investment potential. We want this investors’ meet to result in doubling the investments and employment opportunities in 2-3 years,” Mr. Yeddyurappa said.

L N Mittal, the fifth richest man in the world said, “In 1990s, Karnataka is where the IT revolution began. Our project will take further the path of industrialization in this state. We hope to have a fruitful relationship with Karnataka with the mutual aim of safe, sustainable, prosperous growth.”

Home-grown industrialists like Vijay Mallya and other Indian businessmen like Kumar Mangalam Birla who already have a huge presence in the state, too received as good a welcome as Mr. Mittal.

Azim Premji, chairman, Wipro, summed up the state’s needs when he said, “Karnataka needs to be more aggressive in attracting manufacturing industry like Tamil Nadu. It should go after large MNCs and become part of their global chain. Karnataka has a reputation of attracting services industry, but as Tamil Nadu has done with Nokia and Dell, it should chase large-volume, labor-intensive manufacturing.”

While domestic firms including PSUs dominated last year’s IIM placements, international recruiters have raided the scene this year. The number of offers is also on the rise with students cornering multiple offers.

The pay packets also reflect the upbeat mood, though have not yet reached the pre-recession levels. However, the influx of recruiters and job offers is prompting a huge sigh of relief from the IIM fraternity.

IIM-Ahmedabad is topping the list of IIMs with a cohort-based placement system, introduced this year. Reliable sources confirm that the new placement process is working efficiently and the response of international and domestic recruiters has been tremendous.

Deutsche Bank is leading the pack of recruiters with its offer of around Rs. 1.5 crore pay packets to IIM-A grads. Other international big shots queuing up at IIM-A are Deloitte, Boston Consulting Group, McKinsey & Co, HSBC, CitiBank, American Express, Standard Chartered, Nestle, HUL, P&G, TAS and Feedback Ventures.

After the lackluster year of 2009 which saw offers dry up, especially from international companies, this year Lady Luck is smiling on IIM grads. IIM Lucknow has already received 300 plus offers this year, majority of which is from finance and IT companies.

IIM Indore is deluged with offers, an overwhelming majority from IT firms. Lateral placements too are on the rise with multiple offers being the latest trend. Though international offers are in plenty here, students are opting more for Indian placements.

IIM Calcutta too is witnessing a flood of lateral placements and multiple offers. For the first time, there are international recruiters like Daeyang Shipping coming for lateral placements, which is usually the prerogative of domestic firms.

The drop in hiring that accompanied economic slowdown has eased with its withdrawal. Indian and global companies are eagerly talent searching in India as a part of their post-recession plans.

Last decade saw India emerge as the hunting ground for talent among multinational corporations. The last two recessive years witnessed the rate of hiring come down due to the general downsizing trend. With the world slowly but surely emerging out of economic downturn, hiring spree is back.

The rise in outsourcing exports is prompting top Indian outsourcing companies like Infosys Technologies, Tata Consultancy Services and Wipro to restart their headhunting in bulk. Wipro took in almost 5,000 staff during the last quarter. This is a complete turnaround from the previous quarter, when it had downsized by above 600.

There is good news for students seeking campus recruitments. TCS is proposing to recruit 11,000 professionals in the present quarter, mostly freshmen as trainees. Last quarter, TCS added more than 7000 to its fold. Infosys is also not far behind with plans to hire 6,000 professionals.

Multinational companies are looking towards India to fill positions across continents and profiles. Recruitment firms are expecting demand for about 100 top-level positions and a substantial number of lower level placements for Europe, Africa, Middle East and Asia-Pacific regions.

Africa is fast emerging as a good employment opportunity for telecom and mining professionals. Malaysia and Dubai remain as the coveted destination for those in construction industry. Indian engineers and managers are absorbed in large numbers by UAE’s oil and gas sectors. The US, Singapore and Canada retain their favorite tag with IT, semiconductor, banking and finance professionals.

The country is setting up an emergency social security system for the homeward expatriate workers who lost their jobs in the aftermath of economic slowdown.

Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, said that the Congress party-led government is committed to protecting the interests of this group and will be taking up the issue on top priority.

The latest crisis to affect the expat workforce is the Dubai credit debacle. It is estimated that there are 4.5 million Indians working in Gulf countries. Despite assurances that the crisis will not cast shadow on the Indian workforce, the recent developments reveal a different story.

India, along with China and Mexico, tops the list of world countries receiving maximum remittances from its population abroad. Remittances are most important for the economies of developing countries. According to the World Bank estimates, every dollar of remittance is equivalent to three dollars in real to the economy.

India’s remittance for the last fiscal year totaled a whopping $50 billion. The major source of India’s remittance is North America. However, the last few years saw the spurt of demand for labor in oil-rich Middle-eastern countries, which shifted the balance in their favor.

The recession has affected both skilled and semi-skilled workers abroad. Dr. Singh said that a ‘return and resettlement fund’ would be set up to provide social security net for the returning workers.

Indian Community Welfare Fund is already in place in 18 countries to lend emergency support to the Indian workers. The government is also negotiating social security agreements with countries having large Indian emigrant population. While agreements are already in force with Switzerland, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, labor agreements are being negotiated with Bahrain, Malaysia and Qatar.