The
rivalry between India's top online marketplaces Flipkart and Snapdeal
spilled over to social media when the normally reticent Sachin Bansal
took a stab at Snapdeal co-founder Rohit Bansal for reportedly
suggesting that India does not have enough software engineering talent
of the type it needs.
"Don't blame India for your failure to hire great engineers. They join for culture and challenge," Sachin Bansal, the co-founder and CEO of India's largest online marketplace tweeted, citing a Wall Street Journal report headlined 'India's Snapdeal Says the Country Doesn't Have the Programmers It Needs'.
The report quoted Rohit Bansal as saying that India did not have a tradition of building software product firms, which was why engineers seeking complex and high-end work migrated to the US. "Now those opportunities are not only available in India, but (India) is a more exciting place," he reportedly told WSJ. The two Bansals are not related to each other.
Rohit Bansal responded to Flipkart co-founder's attack in a blog post on Friday where he suggested he had been quoted out of context. He clarified that while India has "some of the smartest engineers on the planet", building large technology product firms is a more recent phenomenon.
He said Snapdeal will continue to hire technology talent locally and bring on board "some select folks from around the world who have had the experience of building technology at scale." He signed off as "an Indian engineer who's trying to make the country a better place with a rockstar team".
Unlike their old-economy counterparts, startup founders are much more aggressive on social media, unafraid to voice an opinion of their own or contradict others.
Some, such as Housing.com founder Rahul Yadav, have courted controversies on social media, and others like Deepinder Goyal of Zomato and Bhavish Aggarwal of Ola actively project themselves and their companies online. While they vie for leadership in India's online retail market, Flipkart and Snapdeal, indeed several Indian startups, have been trying to entice such engineers who have acquired high-end experience at companies in Silicon Valley.
In March, Flipkart poached two senior Google engineers — Peeyush Ranjan and Punit Soni — when it persuaded them to choose Bengaluru over Bay Area. E-commerce companies could roll out 500 jobs with salaries of more than =.`1 crore each this year, according to estimates by five search firms including RGF Executive Search and Longhouse Consulting, ET reported on May 28. The same day, your paper wrote that Rohit Bansal is now in the US seeking to hire technology talent, establish a presence in Silicon Valley and possibly even make an acquisition.
Vijay Shekhar Sharma, founder and CEO of Paytm — in which Alibaba arm Ant Financial Services is an investor — chimed in with Sachin Bansal. He said: "India has engineers, architects and all you need. People seek purpose and mission to give their life to." Paytm, which began as an online recharge services provider and a digital wallet, is also competing now in the online retail marketplace.
Until recently, some of India's best minds would leave for the US to work at companies such as Google and Facebook. But with new-economy Indian companies ready to pay salaries topping a million dollars, offering attractive stock options and job challenges, there has been a recent trend reversal.
Chinese mobile manufacturer Xiaomi has hired ex-Googler Jai Mani, who was based in Silicon Valley, to lead product management in India. Similarly, engineers from Facebook and other top-tier Silicon Valley companies have joined Indian companies recently. For these engineers, it's not just the lure of top dollar that attracts them to India, said Mani. They see India's growing mobile Internet penetration and the vast market as a major lure.
"Don't blame India for your failure to hire great engineers. They join for culture and challenge," Sachin Bansal, the co-founder and CEO of India's largest online marketplace tweeted, citing a Wall Street Journal report headlined 'India's Snapdeal Says the Country Doesn't Have the Programmers It Needs'.
The report quoted Rohit Bansal as saying that India did not have a tradition of building software product firms, which was why engineers seeking complex and high-end work migrated to the US. "Now those opportunities are not only available in India, but (India) is a more exciting place," he reportedly told WSJ. The two Bansals are not related to each other.
Rohit Bansal responded to Flipkart co-founder's attack in a blog post on Friday where he suggested he had been quoted out of context. He clarified that while India has "some of the smartest engineers on the planet", building large technology product firms is a more recent phenomenon.
He said Snapdeal will continue to hire technology talent locally and bring on board "some select folks from around the world who have had the experience of building technology at scale." He signed off as "an Indian engineer who's trying to make the country a better place with a rockstar team".
Unlike their old-economy counterparts, startup founders are much more aggressive on social media, unafraid to voice an opinion of their own or contradict others.
Some, such as Housing.com founder Rahul Yadav, have courted controversies on social media, and others like Deepinder Goyal of Zomato and Bhavish Aggarwal of Ola actively project themselves and their companies online. While they vie for leadership in India's online retail market, Flipkart and Snapdeal, indeed several Indian startups, have been trying to entice such engineers who have acquired high-end experience at companies in Silicon Valley.
In March, Flipkart poached two senior Google engineers — Peeyush Ranjan and Punit Soni — when it persuaded them to choose Bengaluru over Bay Area. E-commerce companies could roll out 500 jobs with salaries of more than =.`1 crore each this year, according to estimates by five search firms including RGF Executive Search and Longhouse Consulting, ET reported on May 28. The same day, your paper wrote that Rohit Bansal is now in the US seeking to hire technology talent, establish a presence in Silicon Valley and possibly even make an acquisition.
Vijay Shekhar Sharma, founder and CEO of Paytm — in which Alibaba arm Ant Financial Services is an investor — chimed in with Sachin Bansal. He said: "India has engineers, architects and all you need. People seek purpose and mission to give their life to." Paytm, which began as an online recharge services provider and a digital wallet, is also competing now in the online retail marketplace.
Until recently, some of India's best minds would leave for the US to work at companies such as Google and Facebook. But with new-economy Indian companies ready to pay salaries topping a million dollars, offering attractive stock options and job challenges, there has been a recent trend reversal.
Chinese mobile manufacturer Xiaomi has hired ex-Googler Jai Mani, who was based in Silicon Valley, to lead product management in India. Similarly, engineers from Facebook and other top-tier Silicon Valley companies have joined Indian companies recently. For these engineers, it's not just the lure of top dollar that attracts them to India, said Mani. They see India's growing mobile Internet penetration and the vast market as a major lure.
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