Thursday, June 14, 2007

Good Talent is Expensive

Interesting article about the dramatic rise in salaries for top Pharmaceutical R&D talent in India. The article appeared in the Business Standard here.

The article mentions that:

"The average expenditure of pharmaceutical companies on research and development has increased four times in the last five years. Industry circles say a good share of the R&D expenses is on manpower, especially the heads of R&D."

Also in the article, Venkat Jasti who is CEO of Suven Life Sciences is quoted as saying:

“I would say the top-level scientists in India are paid the same as, or only about 10 per cent less than, the US standards. My R&D spend on salaries increased by 87 per cent last year.”

The lesson here is this - no matter where you are in the world - Good Talent is not cheap.