Like most senior executives, Carol Borghesi is no stranger to recruitment consultants. An acclaimed 26-year career in customer service, including a senior position at British telecom company BT, has made her an attractive candidate for headhunters looking to fill senior positions across the globe.

Yet it was only when India's mobile carrier Bharti Airtel [Get Quote] came calling that Borghesi, 50, decided to leave a lucrative managing director role at BT to run Airtel's customer service business.

"It's a deliberate choice to be in India at this time -- it's a booming economy, and I wanted to be part of the action," says Borghesi, a Canadian native, who since October, 2006, has lived in a plush apartment in Gurgaon, just outside New Delhi, with her husband and 11-year-old daughter.

• Coming Soon to India: Middle Class Money
• Dell Raises Its Stake in India

These days, she's not the only senior executive heading to the subcontinent. Borghesi is at the vanguard of a trend sweeping the country as fast-growing Indian companies eye Westerners for senior positions.

"Everybody wants to be part of the India growth story now," says Deepak Gupta, managing director at Korn Ferry in New Delhi. According to the executive search company, there are now around 1,000 foreigners holding senior positions in India, compared to 143 in 2005. By 2009, the number is expected to double.

Companies Want the Best

It's not just the attraction of India's position, alongside China, as an engine of global economic growth. Hiring practices among fast-expanding India companies are becoming more global.

Govind Iyer, partner at international search firm Egon Zehnder, notes that half of senior management searches are targeting non-Indians. Two years ago 70% of the searches, at companies' instigation, were for Non-Resident Indians, whom big companies saw as an easier option often willing to accept pay cuts to be part of the India growth story, and who were more attuned to cultural differences.

• India Moves Beyond the Back Office
• Pepsi: Repairing a Poisoned Reputation in India

What changed? For one thing, Indian companies, many of which are making huge investments at home and abroad, are increasingly competing on a global scale and want the best person for the job.

Meanwhile there are shortages of qualified managers in key areas such as infrastructure, aviation, retail, and life sciences. "India has good talent, but it's not deep enough for some of the new sectors," says Iyer.

The change of mindset shouldn't be underestimated. Just three years ago, even as entry-level and mid-level Western hires were in vogue, companies rarely conceded they lacked expertise in senior management.

Not anymore. At Airtel, President & Chief Executive Officer Manoj Kohli says Borghesi is just what his firm requires. "Carol brings immense global experience," he says. "Her culturally diverse background adds richness to our leadership team."

Western-Style Salaries

India watchers also note a change in the types of executives that are relocating to India. Back in the 1990s, most senior level managers sent to India were charged with researching or establishing operations.

Often, notes Rama Bijapurkar, a Mumbai business consultant, those who went were either brand managers, sent to test the water in a newly liberalized India, or older executives on the verge of retirement. "Now it's seriously different," she says. "They are getting senior people with a clear mandate to grow the business."

New recruits don't come cheap. Most expect Western-sized salaries and perks, often including stock options. Headhunters estimate that foreign salaries range from $300,000 to $600,000 including perks for senior positions. Contracts are typically for three to five years.

Yet with India booming the disparities appear to engender relatively little unease among locally hired colleagues.

"Their compensation is justified for selective specialized functions," says K. V. Subramaniam, CEO of Reliance [Get Quote] Life Sciences, a Mumbai-based biotech company.

"They bring years of domain experience and are involved in developing competencies among Indian understudies." Reliance has 15 expatriates -- several in senior positions -- receiving compensation three times that of their Indian counterparts.

Adapting to the Culture

Of course India does hold special challenges. Bureaucracy, slow decision making, and cultural differences remain major headaches. Often, spouses of executives, especially those raising families, bear the brunt of the culture shock.

Lamon Rutten, joint managing director of India's Multi Commodity Exchange, admits his family is still getting accustomed to living in India.

Rutten, his wife, and two children relocated in June, 2006 to Juhu, a suburb of Mumbai, from the calm of Geneva, after he gave up a post as chief of finance and risk management in the commodities branch at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.

While he enjoys the job, Rutten laments the lack of green space and the time it takes to get things repaired. "With India opening up, it has to adapt," he says.

Business life can also throw up unusual problems. U.S. native Rudy Vercelli, 47, chief operating officer of Mumbai International Airport, is often mistaken for a tourist at the airport he is helping modernize.

He also has to contend with the 80,000 squatters that occupy 60% of the airport's land. "We have 960 acres of airport land, but what we need is 4,000 acres. There is no room except on top," he says.

Still, Vercelli, formerly a vice-president at Bechtel, has no regrets. "I will stay in India until they kick me out. My family looks upon every move as an adventure," he says.

• Merger Mania Reshapes Indian Airlines