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Influx of Indian workers in Taiwan? Firms roll out welcome mat, but ‘prejudices’ lurk

  • Taiwan and India have signed a deal to allow Indian workers to help plug a stubborn labour shortage spawned by the island’s low birth rate

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Media in Taiwan and India have said as many as 100,000 Indian nationals could eventually reach Taiwan to work in factories, on farms and in hospitals. Photo: AFP

A Taiwanese developer of PC power supplies may be ahead of its time.

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AcBel Polytech, which was founded in 1981, has 7,000 employees, but recently the firm has attempted to boost their ranks by recruiting Indian students from Taiwanese universities.

“We try to bring other countries’ talent to work with us, and India, why not?” assistant vice-president James Hsieh said on the sidelines of the Computex Taipei tech show in early June, with the company having been interviewing students on university campus’ for at least the past year.

Taipei’s Ministry of Labour signed a memorandum of understanding with India in February to allow its citizens to help plug a stubborn labour shortage spawned by Taiwan’s low birth rate.

Media in Taiwan and India have said as many as 100,000 Indian nationals could eventually reach Taiwan to work in factories, on farms and in hospitals. India is also known for its tech talent.

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But approval of a labour deal is still pending parliamentary approval in Taipei, and since the memo was signed, scepticism has arisen on both sides about how well Indian workers would adapt.

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