Watch: Supply Chain Career in India After H1B Issues: NRI Return Guide

3:20 I think I Was preparing for again the the the idea be find before M for the Masters is like to level up in my career go up the laders so I think that's was one of the reason and then I even applied for colleges in India but us specifically for the scholarship reasons and for the the post Masters the organizations I can work in so that was the one of the criteria I used to go to us and I also like did my research through US News which are the good colleges for specifically in supply chain because I buil my career there so yeah I think that one of the reason is to go up the ladder and that's just I executed so sounds good so it looks like you want to enhance that you know the skill set the experience in that and definitely like you know you UTD is offering the scholarship and that made the decision very straightforward so how was the life in us so after you did the Masters you work there how was the life and what made you to think about moving back to

4:20 India see the life was pretty nice I think it's again you have to do everything by yourself which we are which we are not very comfortable in India I think that's how it is but like initially I was in Dallas then I started my career in Michigan First it's a quite change in terms of weather it goes to like min-2 and it's getting living in that atmosphere it's not not very good for me so I wanted to try something on the west coast and Par I started looking for opportunities on the west coast I moved to California role in Tesla and then worked there so again I think California as an opportunity wise as we all know has lots of opportunities and then weather is is a plus point worked then then I got opportunity with boing and moved to Los Angeles so that's a pretty nice area too in terms of work life balance I think all we know barrier is like it's more towards work like the work life balance is little bit on the lower side but I think Los Angeles give you that advantage that's that atmosphere give you the advantage and it depends on the company working

5:20 For right so so yeah then spent almost 3 years my H1 didn't got in didn't came in a lottery as all we go through the process so and then the only solution I have like either go for a PhD which is one degree up even I thought of applying for it I got the visa extension but I was thinking like I'm I don't want to give another three years for studies and then like start working again so that that changed my perspective and then I came back to India in 2021 so yeah got it understood so thanks for that background so how about the opportunities in supply chain in US and in terms of the the work culture the opportunities I think you know if you can shed some light that would be

6:05 Great yeah no opportunities are great as you see all the companies like Amazon this all e-commerce companies are also supply chain companies right they fulfill your orders so there are Walmart's Amazon we mentioned there are other many big players also there in in the US like Target so I used to focus specifically in companies which have a supply chain requirements and again opportunities wise it's a great like you know how the big country is and the entire logistic works on that the geography how it is so and even when I came back to India I was working for a one startup it's it's is to it's in a sustainable product so they were catering to a US market itself so so how we used to work is we used to send products from India to us once the products reaches us ports we used to make sure that that'ss are getting picked and stored in a warehouse in us on the both Coast like West Coast and the east coast and from there it was something getting fulfilled through three PLS third party logistic companies like ship Bob so I think opportunities wise as we discussed like it's great

7:07 Like and specifically how the booming industry has been because it's a merge of it and supply chain right so so I think that's that's the main advantage and accordingly I focused my studies and then par accordingly got my roles there so yeah again comparing to India it's a different experience but we can we can discuss in detail down the line like how the differences are But to answer the question is like it has lot of opportunities yeah so just to confirm like I think you mentioned about on the H1 lottery so you were working on the opt and then you know because of the circumstances you decided to move back to India at that Junction is okay yeah cool so maybe let's dive into a little bit about the career planning when you move to India right so like how was the opportunities for supply chain here have you seen a shift you know when you left India in 2016 because there has been a big surge in terms of e-commerce or different things in India itself so just curious in terms of how the

8:08 Opportunities are and how how do you see that evolving especially you know people who are non it they all have these questions about how the opportunities are there in India you know for a different so if you can shed some light in terms of the career opportunities the things in India I think for for supply chain roles that would be fantastic yeah 2016 I I totally

8:31 Agree I was working in a manufacturing setup right I was working with Mahindra so I I think at that time there was not big surge in e-commerce companies and I think it started eventually eventually coming in right so like Amazon started it operations I think in 2014 I remember I may be wrong in the year wise but they were quite new to the country at that time and then the surge happened specifically but when I came back I could figure out there are lots of companies e-commerce right now in d2c like that's a focus area we could see right now right direct to the customers that segment is booming like anything I have attended so many retails sessions when I came back and presented my brand I'm I'm building my own brand so I could figure out like there's lots of opportunities people are coming in investing lots of good like money with that especially the VCS right so the opportunities has inre increased like d2c players are coming a lot it was not used to be when in 2016 and then again like as we discussed the e-commerce boom has already came so I

9:32 Think that's giving that's giving you lots of opportunity specifically in this segment right so that's something we can cater to if you have a background in supply chain or in retail or in like e-commerce so you can use that experience to like get into this companies and then build your career there so yeah fantastic so I think maybe let's talk about I think the topic that you have touched slightly right in terms of the compare and contrast between the opportunities in us and India when I say the opportunities but also like the career growth right I mean in terms of maturity of the segment itself that creates these opportunities within the career and maybe if there's anything that you can talk about maybe on a pay differences or in general like any any any insights that you can give on this particular thing I think that would be fantastic no totally agree see just

10:22 To answer question growth-wise again at the end of the day it's on one's perspective where they want to live right like if someone is is very driven towards its career America is the place for them like or I think Europe is also got place for that but I also feel like many Europeans are living in us just to build their own careers so I feel like us give you that opportunities where there a number of opportunities and growth wise there is no like there's no looking back right so but again like for me I wanted to balance my personal life like I wanted to spend my time with my f with my family so that one of the reason also to came back but to discuss like if you ask me growth-wise us has a big has a major growth even in within year to year to year to year basis like you get promotions in one year in us like which is happening in India too but again it's it's in a slow pace right it's not happening as fast as us so I've seen colleagues and me myself like getting promotion in one year which were which I've not seen in India like it takes two to three years depending on the role you

11:23 Are in right that's one thing pay packages as you see like again but again there us has are M good packages but again the cost of living is quite high if you live in a tier one cities like Los Angeles San Francisco New York the cost of living is quite high like so I think it's it's a same ecosystem which also India like cities give you the Bangalore then Delhi NC or Mumbai I think it's same ecosystem but again the packages in 2016 2016 was not as great in supply chain at that time which which is right now in 2024 so I feel like the the range has increased like even in supply chain people are touching onec or like 80 lakhs or like depending upon the the skill set they have like they like if they have it skills also in supply chain so that's something that that changes happened for sure so at the end of the day you could figure out what what you want to choose right if you come back have a balanced life or you want to stay in us so I think it's it's a it's a preference to

12:25 The individual yeah got it and so when you decide to move back to India like how did you choose about the place where you want to move to or like did you move after coming here to different places just yeah yeah no I I yeah I came

12:40 Back with this mindset because as if you see my journey I've left like I've left my my home place which is Delhi in 2 2007 I did my bachelor then worked in Mumbai worked in Chennai and then went to us so I was out for almost 14 15 years so I was like I I feel like I wanted to stay at least in Delhi andc where I can on the weekend spend my spend time with the family and then week on the weekday I can still focus on my career but as you know things didn't work out like that when I came back I got a role in Mumbai I started my career in Mumbai again it's a good City to build your career because you could figure out like all the specific the marketing companies fmcg companies have their headquarters in Mumbai or it could be Finance so I think that's a really nice experience I had but I then I got opportunity in NOA in Delhi NCR in 2022 then I came back I was working for a sustainable product they're trying to eliminate plastic from the entire kitchen wear they coming with products based of based of Bas Bas is sugar can

13:43 Waste Palm Le products so they were working on a really nice products and that attracted me to build my career again it was a supply chain role but I could figure out down the line I think my calling is into entrepreneurship I my brother was building a brand in FM CG so I joined him and the place to answer question is like place is something evolved along with the time like it was something was not any concrete but it evolved and then currently I'm in Delhi so yeah nice so along the same lines I think is there anything that you can shed some light if someone is looking more on a supply chain so it is very much U across the India or is there certain metros that are more predominant with those kind of roles just curious if there is anything that that that kind of like a concentration of these kind of roles in a specific region the supply chain roles are in like cities like Pune

14:36 Because if you see Pune is a entire Automotive belt so Automotive belt has a supply chain roles Bangalore like Aviation wise like they have a roles e-commerce Bangalore is is a place for you in supply chain Chennai again Automotive belt their supply chain roles in Chennai Gujarat like specifically now companies are building their manufacturing plants there so that's one one of the Cities you can can focus apart from that Delhi andc has because of the maruti being in Gula and then hero motor cops in being in japur so I think that's that's area can focus so it's spread out it's not like Concrete in one area like as you mentioned Mumbai Delhi Pune Chennai Bangalore Gujarat I think that's the cities you can focus in supply chain and yeah I think that's that's how it is yeah even japur is coming in a big way specifically Delhi NCR and that japur belt is having more manufacturing companies coming in and putting their plans so I think that's also area you can focus so yeah great no thank you very much I know you kind of touched

15:38 About this entrepreneur role right so is there anything that you can shed some light because there are people who are in us who are thinking of moving back to do their own startups right or they might not have the flexibility to do you know based on your experience so far has it a little bit more easier or like how the opportunities are how the startup ecosystem is in India yeah yeah yeah give any insights I think that would be very yeah no for sure I think

16:04 I think indan Indian government is pushing a lot for the startups they are providing you funds I think if you're into fmcg they're giving you 10 lakhs as a startup fund not any like it's it's not like again any property or something it's just you have to show your like the balance sheet what you're doing in terms of your growth and then they you can evail that specifically like FMC sector is growing great because sector to grow again but again the ecosystem wise I think government is giving lots of good opportunities to build your own Brands like as you see like startups are securing funds from VC so I think it's a process even Shar tank if you see like I've not seen a episode like the seasons like Shar tank which which is coming right now and that encouraging like enterpreneur from small small cities like I was watching One SE season where girl from jamu have built a brand in a like healthy products like specifically to women sector so I

17:06 Think again this ecosystem has increased has has came in a long way and again you if you can able to specifically sector to the d2c brands which we were discussing initially I think that area can focus a lot because the margins are quite good in d2c Brands so I think that's something you can focus on again it's a process it's not like happens in a one day you have to like start getting products out to the market heading a customer engagement conversations with them what what can can be increase from us so I think it's ecosystem wise has increas has changed it was not in 2016 how it was when I was leaving for us I think people were more but again that ecosystem has Chang a lot I could I can feel that since 2020 when I came back so yeah okay yeah no for sure definitely so switching GES a little bit I think you know going back to this transition was there

18:06 Anything that you did from a financial planning like you know while you worked you know anything on the Corpus fund side or anything on the you know 401K I don't know if there are any anything that you can shed some light from a financial planning when you're moving from us to India so yeah I think first thing is

18:23 Again as we could figure out like you if you see most of the students go like they loan to go out right so I think the strategy you can use here is focus the universities which give you scholarship so basically that chunk of money spending in our education can be saved right I feel I I remember when I was doing my internships there were students like who was who has not even worked in India and directly came to us for the Masters I don't know how much pressure they going to have like because they have to like like pay back the loan also and if you don't get a job in 90 days as you know the how rules say post your educ master you have to scure a job in 90 days if you're not getting back you not getting a job in 90 days you have to go back so I think it's good to focus on a in a universities which giving you scholarships I think that's can be easily tracked online you can interact with the with the seniors who are already there through social media I used to interact a lot with like my seniors through social media right to to figure out how things are and then start P planning as for that like okay I go to

19:25 A for for me I went to Dallas was cheaper in a living right so then I went to UT Dallas again the got a scholarship post that I went to California and started like planning my expenses like okay if you're having a salary of two lakhs annually how much I want to save so I think that's depend on the IND individuals every person has a indiv reference how much money they want to save on a monthly basis I didn't invest anything on 4 41k at that time but again if you can on a long term if you see start saving money on the on a monthly basis you can use that money once you came back to India and like either in your entrepreneurship or either in a buying a property or whatever the way you wanted to invest right either in shares so again I think it's again goes with the planning so yeah like as we discussed here so yeah got it that's great is there any topic that we haven't covered that you want to bring up

20:21 Yeah I think yeah the basic things is like just plan your I think program I think that's very important because I feel like students like suppose someone is doing mechanical engineering in India and worked in mechanical they're directly going for it that doesn't make sense you have to BU first build a skill in it in India you know you should be knowing what is data Sciences not directly jumping into the program and like oh I I didn't not getting a job so I think that failures I've seen during my time like some of some of the students were coming from mechanical and directly coming to it I don't know how they're going to get a job first you need to know the coding the basic skill set right so I think that's something in students are not aware it's like oh I just want to go out and study it you have to plan things I think that's more important yeah and again communication skills which you I can like I think that's something students suffer a lot when they go out I think this this are the two things which they plan accordingly I think there is long way to go so yeah that's great so thanks a lot sham for your time sharing

21:21 Your journey your experiences working especially in the supply chain domain and how it's been here in I think that would be very valuable to our audience so thanks a lot for your time and sharing your journey with us today thanks thanks here it was a nice conversation and like feel free if if anyone wanted to build a career in supply chain they can reach out to me and then I can definitely help them so yeah that's great thanks yeah