Global payroll platform Deel’s latest ‘Global Talent Map’—tracking more than 40,000 client companies—shows India leapfrogging every other country in 2025-26 as the preferred source of skilled tech and finance talent. Year-on-year hiring of Indian nationals grew 724 % in Australia, 142 % in the UK and 139 % in the US, outpacing the traditional giants of China and the Philippines. Visa holders, the report adds, now earn significantly more than local employees in comparable roles, underscoring how advanced skills rather than cost arbitrage are driving cross-border recruitment. For corporate mobility teams the numbers reinforce a structural shift: employers in high-income markets are moving from headquarters-centric relocation to ‘talent-anywhere’ contracts that mix remote work, digital-nomad stints and targeted on-site assignments. Yet immigration compliance remains pivotal. Indian software engineers on UK Skilled Worker visas are reported to draw a median £112,000—25 % above local developers—making them prime targets for sponsor-licence audits. In the US the H-1B category continues to command median wages of US $140,000, but long adjudication timelines are prompting firms to file parallel applications for Canada and the UAE. The study also highlights a reverse trickle: some mid-career Indian tech professionals are returning home to capitalise on India’s fast-growing AI and fintech sectors, a move aided by the government’s decision to digitise OCI services and by expanding stock-option tax incentives for start-ups. Mobility advisers are now building ‘India in-bound’ playbooks covering home-leave, housing allowances and local provident-fund obligations—services that were once reserved for outbound expatriates. For multinationals the immediate action item is data reconciliation. Compensation teams must ensure that remote-first salaries for Indian nationals comply with equal-pay rules in host countries while remaining competitive against domestic salary inflation in Bengaluru and Hyderabad. Failure to align relocation premiums with Deel’s emerging benchmarks risks triggering attrition to VC-funded start-ups happy to pay Silicon Valley rates in rupees.
Source: Business Standard
