Domestic or International Job Offer?

When you grow in your career and get promotions, you will encounter a decision that can change your course of career: Where to accept a High paying Domestic Offer or an equivalent or even lower International Offer? How to judge International Offers. We have answered this in this article at OpenGenus so you can take better decisions.

30 LPA in India or 150k USD in US or 176k SGD in Singapore?

The best and the most common metric to judge which of the 3 offers are better is to consider the Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) of the concerned country.

PPP is calculated by checking the price difference of purchasing a good of products that are easily available and traded in the market. Now that basket may contain a lot of things which you as a person won’t even be purchasing in that country.

The average living cost per year:

• $22,000 in USA
• 4,00,000 INR in India ~ $5000 = 6900
• 25,000 SGD ~ $14,500

So, for 30 LPA in India, the equivalent salaries are:

• 165K USD in USA
• 187K SGD in Singapore

So, as you can see, among the 3 offers, the offer in India is the best in terms of PPP.

If you have a salary of X INR in India, to calculate the equivalent salary, do:

• X * 22,000 /(4,00,000) USD in USA
• X * 25,000 / 4,00,000 SGD in Singapore

If you goal is to stay and grow your family in the location of your job for a long time period say 10 to 20 years, then PPP is the most important factor.

Beyond PPP

Rejecting an International offer because of Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) might not be the BEST thing after all if you are going there to save money for 3-4 years!

For example,

• the cost to buy a car in India ( let’s say 20 Lakhs)
• the cost to buy the same car in Singapore( Let’s say 60 Lakhs - yes it might be this high )

Now simply, this price difference made the PPP exchange rate of 3 INR in Singapore for every 1 INR in India. But you might not ever need a car because of an amazing public transport network and cab facilities so what’s the point of considering this in your PPP?

If we can fill our basket and requirements based on which the PPP is being calculated, it would make a lot of sense to rely on it. But till then, I would suggest not to make decisions on this value.

Also, if you live daily by spending wisely you can save a lot in International job offers. If you want to save the maximum amount in India with that salary, you can save up to like 15 LPA but with the same salary in US, you might save double or even triple of that amount provided you convert to INR and spend it in India.

Conclusion

So, the summary based on the 3 job offer are:

• Stay in India and live a good life with best facilities
• Go to USA or Singapore, live a good life but slightly, less facilities based on the concerned salary.
  • Consider that you are a foreigner in these countries and it may take time to socialize.
  • You get to enjoy a different culture.s
• Go to USA or Singapore for 5 years, live a normal life with no facility and then, spend the next 5 years in India in luxury. Note getting a job again in India after 5 years may or may not be easy.

Make your choice. Everything works out at the end.