Now every time we do an item that in anyway has a pop at the quality of staff many of our finest financial institutions appear to be falling over themselves to hire in lower cost locations, we get inundated with e-mails.

Some express concern that company clients and shareholders will ultimately pay the price for the race to see who can hire the most staff at the cheapest price. Others suggest that we are being politically incorrect, and have no right to say that some of the quality of candidates in lower cost locations are just not up to scratch. Well, we defend our right to run articles of our choosing - even if, at times, the subjects we cover are those which our more mainstream rivals feel are just too hot to handle.

This article takes a look at recruiting in India, but it's not just us wilfully picking on the labour market in this country. We have selected India as it was probably the first 'developing' country to gets its act together and attract overseas firms to hire staff locally - the infrastructure is sound, the legal framework is strong, the government is respectable, the number of people who make up the labour market is huge and the costs of hiring are relatively small. And there's some very well educated local talent, with many locals extremely hardworking and keen to do a good job.

The problem for India now, however, and for the overseas firms which continue to expand their operations in that country, is that it is becoming more and more difficult to find the strength in depth required to fill all the vacant positions there. The demand for quality staff already outstrips supply - and that's before the likes of Citi, Credit Suisse, Goldman, JPMorgan et al beef up their payrolls in India over the next two years.

And, as many CEOs worried about getting the axe continue to look at ways to squeeze costs in order to appease activist shareholders, this problem will only get worse. Ultimately, of course, jobs outsourced to India will, in turn, be outsourced themselves to even lower cost locations - and this is already happening, as companies look at the likes of Mexico, the Philippines, the Czech Republic and Poland. But, in the meantime, there's said to be a bit of a bottle neck in India - too many overseas firms wanting to hire and not enough talented heads from which to choose.

Here Is The City recently talked to a member of staff at a well known investment bank about hiring in India (the staff member wishes to remain anonymous for obvious reasons). Here are some of the observations made about hiring in that market:

A cv comes in which looks like it could be a goer. The candidate is called into interview. When the candidate arrives, it's often now not actually the candidate that sent in the cv, although the person who attends the interview is usually related to the party who originally applied for the job.

The candidate will be interviewed anyway, and may be called back for a second interview. Yet someone else turns up for the second interview. THAT candidate is subsequently hired - although someone else again turns up on the appointed day to start work. He or she is welcomed aboard.

But the person who finally makes it on board may well have 3 job offers in his or her pocket. So the employee may well quit on his or her first day to go work up the road, or might be encouraged to move on very quickly. And some of those who do stay the course are said to spend not a lot of time doing their work, but plenty encouraging friends and family to apply to their new employer via the over-worked staff referral scheme.

And, to top it all, it's also said to be difficult to check out the educational qualifications and employment details which candidates include in their cvs. Often, therefore, overseas firms are simply hiring and hoping - hiring and hoping that someone decent turns up and stays the course.

Is this article an unfair reflection of what really goes on now in the Indian employment market ? Or does this item merely highlight the reality ? Ultimately, company stakeholders have a right to know.

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