Executive Search in India
India's executive talent pool is not a market to be accessed carefully from the outside. It is where some of the most capable operators in the world are currently working, and most global searches miss them for the same reasons.
Founder, Majhi Group & Majhi OS
I am from India. Odisha, specifically, not where most of the executive talent infrastructure is concentrated, which gives me a view of this market that is different from what a London or New York search firm gets when it looks east.
What I see: India is not producing a thin layer of internationally-viable executive talent. It is producing enormous depth. The constraint is not on the supply side. The constraint is on the search methodology, most global companies and international search firms are looking for the wrong signals, in the wrong places, through the wrong intermediaries.
What the standard India search gets wrong
The default approach for a global company searching for executive talent in India runs through a predictable set of filters: IIT or IIM education, FAANG or Big Four pedigree, English-medium career arc, international exposure. This produces candidates who are visible and credentialed. It does not necessarily produce the best candidates for the role.
The executives who have built and scaled functions inside India's fastest-growing companies, in sectors that didn't exist a decade ago, often don't look like this. They went to strong regional institutions. They built careers inside India without an international posting. Their operational capabilities, in many cases, are stronger for the specific environments where they built them.
A search that filters only for internationally-legible credentials is selecting for recognisability, not capability. It produces a shortlist that looks right on paper and closes at a fraction of the offer acceptance rate a well-constructed search achieves.
The compensation architecture problem
Senior executive compensation in India is more complex than it appears from the outside. The base salary is often the smallest part of the picture. Variable pay, ESOPs, retention bonuses, and benefits structures that vary significantly across companies create total compensation packages that are difficult to benchmark without current market knowledge.
The offer that looks competitive based on base salary comparisons can fall short of a candidate's actual walk-away number by a significant margin. This produces failed offers at the last stage, after months of search work, for a reason that was avoidable.
What insider knowledge actually means
India does not need to be navigated carefully by outsiders. It needs to be known. Those are different things.
Knowing this market means understanding which institutions produce which kinds of operators. Which sectors have generated the most capable talent in the last five years, and what that talent was built on. How senior executives here evaluate opportunities, the specific questions about stability, leadership quality, and trajectory that matter in this context and that a formulaic pitch deck doesn't answer.
Majhi Group brings this inside perspective to India-based and India-origin executive searches. The assessment focuses on whether the brief is built to reach the right people in this market, not the most credentialed people, but the most capable ones for the specific role.
If an India-based executive search needs to close on the right hire rather than the most visible one, request an assessment.
See also: CTO Recruitment in India, The 50-Day Executive Search, Executive Hiring Reliability: What It Is, Why Most Firms Don't Produce It, and How to Measure It
Frequently Asked Questions
Why do global executive searches miss the best Indian candidates?
Most global searches for Indian executive talent apply the same credential filters they would use in the US or UK: IIT or IIM education, FAANG or Big Four pedigree, international posting history. These filters produce candidates who are legible, whose backgrounds are easy to read against a Western framework, not necessarily the best candidates. The operators who have built and scaled functions inside India's fastest-growing companies of the last decade often don't fit this profile. They attended strong regional institutions without international brand recognition. They built careers inside India without international stints. A search that filters for internationally-legible credentials is selecting for recognisability, not capability.
What is the right compensation approach for executive search in India?
Base salary is often the smallest part of the picture. Senior executive compensation in India involves variable pay ranging from 20% to 100% of base depending on the function, ESOPs with significant variation in vesting structures and current valuation, retention bonuses that are increasingly standard at VP level, and a benefits architecture that affects net take-home in ways that matter to candidates. The offer that looks competitive based on base salary alone can fall short of the candidate's actual walk-away number by 30 to 50 percent when these components are factored in. Compensation benchmarking should be done on total cost to company (CTC) rather than base salary, incorporating current market data from active searches in the same function and company stage.
How should a global company approach executive search in India differently from its home market?
Three adjustments matter. First, source through relationship networks, not just algorithms. The best Indian candidates are concentrated and well-networked, warm introductions are significantly more effective than cold outreach at senior levels. Second, position the opportunity accurately. Indian senior talent evaluates opportunities with sophistication, they want to understand the cap table, the actual authority structure, and realistic exit scenarios before committing to a conversation. Generic positioning about 'exciting growth-stage opportunities' does not move senior candidates. Third, expect a longer decision timeline than in the US or UK. Major career decisions typically involve consultation with family and often a broader personal network, build this into the search timeline.
Majhi Group
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