AJ Pantaleon has been working in India as a consultant at Hindware for 10 years now.
He is among the thousands of Filipino professionals in the second most populous country in the world.
AJ is also the president of Filipino in India Community, enabling him to see the huge opportunities available for overseas Filipino workers in the said country.
Most Filipino workers in India are in the information technology industry working as managers and other key and sensitive positions with an average monthly salary of P100,000 to P400,000.
“The economy of India is booming and they are in need of skilled workers,” Pantaleon said.
The group also seeks the signing of an agreement between the Philippines and India for the deployment of OFWs to the latter.
Although Filipinos earn huge salaries, they are having difficulties in renewing their visas.
“You cannot work here as an ordinary employee. You have to have a position at a company,” Pantaleon said.
According to the Philippine Embassy, there are 3,000 Filipinos living in India, and 400,000 of them are living in New Delhi.
Some of them were able to marry Indian nationals.
According to Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque, although OFW concerns had not been part of the discussions between President Rodrigo Duterte and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Philippine authorities will study the possibility of improving the opportunities OFWs there.
“Of course, we noticed that India today has a very high standard of living and yes, given the economic boom in India, I understand that their economic growth was 7% and they are a population of more than a billion people,” Roque said.
