August 15 is India's Independence Day. Why it's increasingly important for Russian businesses to understand this labor market.

On August 15, India celebrates Independence Day—one of the country's main public holidays and an official holiday. We congratulate our Indian colleagues, partners, and all Indian employees currently living and working in Russia. India is a member of BRICS, and the development of cooperation between our countries is increasingly impacting not only trade and investment but also the labor market. Just a few years ago, India was a relatively exotic recruiting destination for Russian employers. Today, the situation is changing rapidly.

From a niche destination to one of Russia's largest labor markets.

In 2021, approximately 5,000 work permits were issued to Indian citizens in Russia. By the end of 2025, this figure will exceed 56,000. This represents a more than eleven-fold increase in four years. In 2024, India became the second-largest visa-requiring country after China. Today, Indian employees are already working in Russia in construction, manufacturing, engineering, agriculture, and light industry. Moreover, India is of interest to employers not only as a source of large-scale frontline personnel: a significant portion of the country's international talent pool consists of qualified specialists.

But now employers also have to compete for candidates.

India's vast talent pool sometimes creates the false impression that recruiting there is virtually unlimited. In fact, a high-quality Indian candidate now has a choice. The country has been building an international employment infrastructure for decades. India has labor mobility agreements with the Persian Gulf countries and a number of European countries, including the UK, Germany, Italy, Portugal, and others. Russia has become another destination in this market, but far from the only one. This is especially important when searching for qualified employees. The more competent the candidate, the more offers they can compare: salary, living conditions, contract length, clarity of work, employer attitude, and quality of support. Therefore, the sustainability of an Indian team depends not so much on the nationality of the workers, but on who was selected, what the person was promised before departure, and how well those promises were met.

"Free" recruitment: the employer should ask another question

Another peculiarity of the Indian market is the developed network of recruiting agencies and intermediaries. If a contractor offers a Russian company to bring in Indian personnel practically for free, it's useful to clarify: who pays for the recruiting on the Indian side? If the costs are entirely shifted to the candidate, and there is a chain of agents and subagents between them and the employer, this is a risk. A person may arrive with financial obligations, a misconception about their future job, or promises the Russian employer never made. For a qualified specialist, this scenario is even less appealing: they have ample alternatives to choose transparent offers without a lengthy intermediary chain. Therefore, the cost of international recruitment should be assessed not only by the Russian contractor's invoice. It is important to understand the entire economics of attracting one employee—from the first contact with the candidate in India to their onboarding.

Five dates that HR should keep in mind

Adaptation begins with more than just documents, training, and Russian language training. Employees continue to live in their own culture, even if their workplace is now several thousand kilometers from home. India is a multinational and multi-religious country, so the set of significant holidays may vary depending on the region and religion of the individual employee. However, employers should definitely be aware of a few dates in 2026:
January 26 – Republic Day. One of India's main national holidays.
March 4 – Holi. One of the largest traditional festivals.
August 15th is Independence Day, a national public holiday.
October 20th is Dussehra.

Оne of the largest holidays in the Hindu tradition.

November 8th is Diwali, one of the main festive periods of the year. For corporate planning, it's best to discuss the period from November 8th to 11th with employees in advance. What can a Russian employer do? Very little: ask employees in advance which dates are truly important to them; if possible, take these dates into account when creating shift schedules; congratulate the team; organize a small celebratory lunch, taking into account the eating habits of individual employees. For the company, this is a minimal expense. For someone far from family and their home country, it's a signal that they are seen as more than just a figurehead. And this directly impacts their adaptation, attitude toward the company, and desire to continue working there.

International recruitment doesn't end at the airport

The number of Indian workers in Russia will grow. But a large labor market alone does not guarantee employers stability.

A team. Choosing a country is only the first step. Next comes selection, qualification testing, transparent hiring conditions, pre-entry training, onboarding, and managing cultural differences. BRICS Mobility operates in India systematically: project employees participate in the selection and training of candidates, without delegating key stages to a long chain of foreign intermediaries. Currently, another group of approximately 100 employees is undergoing training there for a Russian manufacturing company.

The BRICS Mobility team has extensive practical experience in international recruiting and working with India—from candidate selection and training to their introduction to the Russian company and subsequent onboarding. If you are planning to recruit employees from India and want to avoid pitfalls at these stages, we are ready to help you build a systematic process. And perhaps India's Independence Day is a good occasion to reiterate this: an international team becomes stable when the employer understands not only the employee's origins but also their experience, expectations, and culture.