FROM PERENNIALLY CAPITAL-STARVED TO PROVIDER OF CAPITAL

Calls from foreign HR feel like a 'Follow' request from a college crush to Bertie

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It's not often that Bertie receives a call from a foreign headhunter. While he is quite content with his work, such calls are like a 'Follow' request from a college crush. They make one feel quite chuffed.

The headhunter set up an online interaction with a human resources lady of a large financial firm which was conspicuous by its absence in India.

The HR lady went on about how her firm was a global powerhouse with a wide repertoire of products and long history of investing. Bertie sometimes feels that these spiels are more to reassure themselves than to impress the prospective hire. After the advertorial, she asked about Bertie's views on the Indian markets. Bertie parroted platitudes about supportive macro conditions, multi-year growth and strong domestic flows.

The lady seemed quite interested in domestic flows and asked for more data about this trend. It was Bertie's turn to ask the questions now and he got straight to the meat of the matter by asking about the size of commitment the powerhouse wanted to make to India. He was expecting a double digit billion number. The HR lady put on her practised 'I am about to dash your expectations with a lot of English words' voice.