Delta electronic's indian unit

These were the questions posed by Delta Electronics executive director and chairman of Thailand-India Business Council Anusorn Muttaraid at a seminar organised by the Thai Embassy in India, in Bangkok recently.

"We have plenty of female workers and our Indian workers are working like horses," Anusorn said. His company set a target to boost its India sales from US$100 million (Bt 3,375.7 million) last year to $1 billion by 2013.

Anusorn's trick is to pay Indian workers higher than the market rates: Bt75 a day instead of Bt60 that other factories pay.

But that is still cheaper than about Bt300 a day that Delta pays each of its worker in Thailand, which includes transportation and meal costs, he said.

Anusorn said Delta pays young Thai engineers it sent to work in India about Bt28,000 a month. This is because Delta's pay policy for its overseas Thai workers is to pay them the same salary as in Thailand, plus the rates paid for same positions in the given countries. Monthly salary for a young engineer in Thailand is about Bt20,000 and it is about Bt8,000 in India.

overseas construction rates

For construction companies, the pay policy is different. See Sang Yothakarn (1979) engineering manager Teerawat Teeranuwatkul said Thai engineers or supervisors would get their pay increased 1.5 times if they have moved to working for a project in India. But this also depends on the timing.

About a year ago, when See Sang received a project to build tunnels for a new subway in New Delhi, the company paid its Thai engineers two to three times more than what they usually receive when working in Thailand. This was so because at the time, the company also had other construction projects in Dubai and South Africa, which tripled the rates for Thai engineers, Teeranuwatkul said.

thai masseurs paid more

Thanks to the popularity of traditional Thai massage, Thai masseurs in India are getting a higher pay than an engineer. Krung Thai Bank's (KTB) Mumbai branch head Nuannapha Wongthawatchai said Thai massagers in India receive about Bt50,000 a month.

At present, there are three traditional Thai massage centres in New Delhi. They charge Bt1,400 for 45 minutes.

KTB is the only Thai bank in India and Nuannapha is the only Thai at her branch, the staff being all Indian. Before this, Nuannapha had worked at the bank's Singapore branch.