India Set to Begin Supplying Workforce for Russian Shipyards, Construction Sites from April 2022

India and Russia have signed 28 agreements or memorandums of understanding (MoU) during the 21st India-Russia Annual Summit held between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 6 December. These agreements cover various sectors, including trade, energy, culture, intellectual property, manpower, education, etc.

Among the agreements and MoUs that were signed on the margins of the 21st India-Russia Summit, there was one, related to global "talent migration", between India's Magic Billion and Russia's Volshebny Milliard.

Magic Billion, established in 2018 by Basab and Aditi Banerjee, is a management consulting firm which supplies skilled workers from India to overseas markets.

Located in the northwestern Russian city of Murmansk, Volshebny Milliard works in data processing, hosting, and related services industries.

Basab Banerjee, the co-founder of Magic Billion, has shared the details of the MoU that the Russian company, Volshebny Milliard, signed with his firm, with Sputnik.

Sputnik: Magic Billion signed an agreement during the 21st Annual Summit on 6 December. Can you shed some light on its details?

Basab Banerjee: Russia has a shortage of trained workforce in various sectors. With India growing its trained and certified training pool, Russian employers are looking with great interest at Indian talent.

This MoU is signed to commence the process of bringing in Indian Talent to Russian shipyards, construction sites, Agriculture, and the Oil & Gas Sectors. We have signed a few more MoUs with Russian employers, and some more are in the pipeline.

Sputnik: Indian firms complain about a shortage of skilled manpower. Do you think you will find people as per the requirement of the Russian market, and what will be the selection process?

Basab Banerjee: There is no shortage of trained manpower in India. What we lack is a Labour Market Information System (LMIS) which allows employers and potential employees to connect with each other. Through various job portals, the Government of India is trying to do this matchmaking.

For sending Indian professionals to Russia, or to any other country, we follow an elaborate system called 360-degree engagement. It starts from mapping competencies for each job role required by employers, aligning it to Indian talent skills, designing a training programme to cover the gaps, training and certifying the Indian workers through the Government of India's Skill India Programme, testing by the employer and finally the entire visa process for the dispatch of the workers.

Sputnik: By when can we see the first batch being supplied? And is there any estimate as to how many people you require annually?

Basab Banerjee: The first (batch of) Indian workers are likely to be in Russia in April 2022, after going through shortlisting, training, selection and visa processing. Annually, through this MoU, we should be sending 2,000 Indian Professionals to Russia.

Sputnik: India has signed such an agreement with Japan as well. How will this be different, and does the strict work visa regime in Russia make implementation difficult?

Basab Banerjee: The Government of India is making much effort to make India the "Skill Capital of the World." We are finding that the Indian embassies across various countries are actively reaching out to employer bodies to support global talent migration from India. Each country has different requirements and processes, and we follow those protocols.

The process in Russia is different, but with support from the Government of both sides, we should soon see much movement of professionals between these two countries.

Sputnik: Will Russia also supply manpower in any specific sector to India?

Basab Banerjee: Yes, Russia has many professionals in the areas of oil & gas, defence production, shipbuilding, and others, and such talent movement is possible in the future, as the salaries in India go up.