As Indian economy limps back to normalcy from the after-effects of global meltdown, senior management posts which looked elusive till a few months back are starting to make a comeback. According to newspaper reports, with prospects of business renewing in the country, companies, especially those in financial services sector like Kotak Mahindra, Bank of America (BOA) and AIG have switched to hiring mode to acquire the best brains from the country’s vast pool of talented and experienced workforce. And in their quest to get the crème de la crème of management space, companies are not shying away from poaching.

This drive has led to top managers like AIG’s Sourabh Sonthalia and ICICI’s Sailesh Pathak and Shweta Jalan to leave their current posts to take up new roles in other companies.

While the financial services sector might be the first to initiate the trend, it is not the last. Even manufacturing companies can be seen indulging in poaching activities to bring top managers from rival companies to their fold. The steel and shipping major, Essar Group recently stole Malay Mukherjee from ArcelorMittal to manage its steel business. It was also able to win Jayant Khosla to head its telecom business in Kenya.