WITH their strengths in banking and information technology, Indian nationals are fast becoming a mainstay in Singapore’s expatriate landscape.
GET JIGGY WITH IT: Parties, like this Bollywood-themed one at Bar Opiume, are huge for Indian expatriates, like dancer Gayatri Sriram.
These successful Indian expats tend to work hard, but play harder.
Take, for example, private banker Vickram, who declines to reveal his real name as his bank does not allow employees to talk to the press.
Ever since the 32-year-old Bombay native came to Singapore in 1997, he has been working 80-hour weeks and making at least two business trips a month to places like Tokyo and London.
On days when the financial markets are busy, he has as little as four hours of sleep daily.
To compensate for his gruelling schedule, Vickram, who earns about US$150,000 (S$261,600) a year, pampers himself.
He owns an ash-silver Porsche 996 and a green BMW 318, collects Audemars Piguet and Rolex watches, and has weekend brunches with his wife and 18-month-old daughter at mezza9 at the Grand Hyatt Singapore.
He also parties extensively. Last Saturday, he and his wife were ripping up the dance floor at a Bollywood-themed party at Bar Opiume at Empress Place. The next day, he woke up at 6am to play golf at the Orchid Country Club. Like him, his fellow expats also play cricket, take golfing holidays, hobnob at cocktails and fashion shows, and host house parties. But they say such good living is not showy extravagance, but rather their just rewards for hard work. Events organiser Shweta Asnani says that clamouring to be the best in a populous country like India gives them a competitive energy that is second to none. She and her husband - a vice-president in a bank - are both expats.
She adds: ‘It is ingrained in Indian expats to work very, very hard. And they let off steam. If they don’t enjoy themselves outside work, then what are they working for?’
THERE are no official figures on the Indian expatriate community here, much less the more successful ones. But estimates fall within the tens of thousands range, with about 20 per cent of this number being the richer ones.
Nonetheless, the community’s presence can be felt. The Indian Women’s Association, for instance, which is open to both expats and Singaporeans, boasts 300 members - 90 per cent of whom are Indian expats. The Singapore Indian Fine Arts Society, which promotes art events and conducts classical music and dance classes, has about 1,000 members. Two-thirds of them are expats. Usually in their 30s to early 50s, the upper-class Indian expats are highly educated. Their jobs, mainly in the IT and finance industries, have led to multiple postings around the world.
Worldwide, such non-resident Indians (NRIs) are an economic force to be reckoned with.
NRIs have the highest per capita income of any race in the United States, says Standard Chartered’s global head of corporate finance V. Shankar, an Indian expat himself.
‘Those Indians who went to the United Kingdom during colonial days were mostly blue-collar workers,’ he says. ‘But the NRIs who have gone to the United States since the 1950s and 1960s are highly educated professionals.’
NRIs here include Citigroup’s chief country officer in Singapore, Mr Sanjiv Misra; and Mr Girija Pande, Tata Consultancy Services’ regional director for the Asia-Pacific region. Subtle differences
SINGAPOREAN Shabnam Melwani-Reis, 32, who counts many Indian expats as friends, says that despite similar belief systems, the latter have a stronger affinity for India.
‘I’m a Singaporean Indian, so I don’t have a strong sense of patriotism, even though India is my motherland. When my friends have conversations about India and Kashmir or cricket, it’s stronger and more personal for them.’
The NRIs also tend to gravitate towards their own kind. But senior banker Ashish Bali, 38, says such cliques are the result of circumstance, not snobbery: Indian expats meet other expats when they first arrive, and then they usually interact with people from work.
And since the NRIs are always ready to leave for the next overseas posting, their urge to grow roots here is usually not strong.
But some expats have also suggested that there are subtle differences which impede interaction between local and foreign Indians.
Healthcare services manager Hemendra Misra, 36, who is a northern Indian, finds it hard to interact with the predominantly southern Indian population here. He speaks Hindi, while many southern Indians here speak Tamil.
Says the permanent resident, who came to Singapore in 2000: ‘We speak with accents while Indians speak with ‘lors’ and ‘lahs’. South Indians here celebrate Thaipusam, and I don’t.’
He adds: ‘I also get stares when I’m out with my German girlfriend, but I’m used to it now.’
Ms Asnani says local Indians tend to have an antiquated mindset when it comes to contemporary developments in India. It is hard to introduce modern Indian arts to the local Indian community, for example, because it is still not aware of how far India has progressed.
‘Indian expats who travel all over the world and go back to India know how much the country has moved on,’ she says. ‘But the impression many here still have is an India of 20 years ago.’
Still, for those expats who want to settle here, Singapore can be a friendly place, particularly because of its Indian community. Indians make up 8 per cent of the Singaporean population.
Mr Bali, who came to Singapore 11 years ago and gained citizenship in May, says: ‘If you want to get a better sense of the country, you meet the locals. They can tell you where the best char kway teow and bak kut teh are.’
Life in the fast lane
MR ANIL THADANI, chairman of Schroder Capital Partners (Asia), is literally on the fast track.
His company has significant investments in listed companies such as Parkway Holdings.
But the founder and owner of the famous private equities firm also burns rubber with his 1966 Ferrari 275 GTB Competizione in cross-country rallies and race tracks in Europe.
Mr Thadani, you see, is a motorsports enthusiast. He has been vrooming around in his vintage Ferrari - one of only 12 such cars in the world - for the past 15 years.
Trained in chemical engineering and boasting a master’s degree in business administration from University of California, Berkeley, the silver-haired 57-year-old New Delhi native has previously worked with the Chevron Chemical Company and the Bank of America.
Here since late 1997, he was running his own investment business in 1981 and was later approached by British investment bank Schroders to set up a private equities business in Asia, resulting in the formation of Schroder Capital Partners in 1992.
His two daughters, aged 16 and 20, are studying in the United States and England, while his wife does academic research here in Asian studies.
He plays golf with high-powered friends like Lucien Wong, managing partner of law firm Allen & Gledhill.
‘My ideal retirement would be to spend winter months in Singapore, India and Thailand, and then spend summer months in Europe. You can play golf until 9 or 10pm because it’ll still be bright,’ he says with a smile.
United Nations man
MR V. SHANKAR knows many people in high places.
When you enter his office at the Standard Chartered Bank along Battery Road, you’re greeted with pictures of him shaking hands with VVIPs such as former United States President George Bush Sr, former US Vice-President Al Gore and former British Prime Minister John Major.
‘I’m a United States Green Card holder, an Indian passport holder and an Indian working in a British bank who is living in Singapore,’ says Mr Shankar, the bank’s global head of corporate finance.
‘I see myself as an Indian,’ he adds. ‘But I also see myself as one who assimilates into the cultures that I’ve come across.’
Born in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu to a senior police official father and novelist-cum-homemaker mother, he is the youngest of four children.
Mr Shankar, 45, came to Singapore with his homemaker wife 1 1/2 years ago. His only son, 18-year-old Aditya, is studying at Northwestern University in the US.
And while his work might take him anywhere, he is considering making Singapore his permanent home.
‘I was playing golf with three Chinese guy friends and they told me that they eat dosais for breakfast at Little India before they play,’ he says.
‘How many places are there in the world where you can hear of such multiculturalism?’
Arty, also can party
PROFESSIONAL dancer Gayatri Sriram, 31, would like to make one thing clear: She is no chi-chi tai tai.
‘My husband and I have worked hard,’ says the Mumbai-born woman, who became a permanent resident here in 1997.
‘We’re not people who have come into easy money.’
Her husband, Raj, is a senior private banker with Coutts bank. He was born in Tamil Nadu. Ms Sriram, who studied life sciences at Mumbai’s St. Xavier’s College, worked briefly in a public relations agency here.
Speaking to LifeStyle in her posh Pinewood Gardens apartment at Balmoral Park last Tuesday, she exudes a refined presence in her salwar kameez, a traditional Indian garment.
Her svelte figure is a result no doubt of her passion for Bharatanatyam - a south Indian classical dance - in which she has trained since the age of five.
She performed at the opening of the Esplanade last year. Next month, she will be a guest performer in London’s Nehru Centre, an Indian cultural centre. Earlier this month, the mother of a five-year-old daughter choreographed and directed 64 children in a dance re-enactment of the epic Ramayana on stage.
But she also has no qualms letting her hair down at parties.
‘I can swing and have a good time too.’
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