What’s common in global corporations Alcoa, Nestle, Lafarge, Unilever, Whirlp­ool, Bank of America, Mar­ks & Spencer and HSBC Holdings? The MNCs are indeed global leaders in th­eir respective industries ra­nging from aluminium to foods, cement to consumer goods, home appliances to banking and retail stores.

There is another comm­on Indian thread that is running through it. These MNC giants have appointed Indian businessmen Ratan N Tata, NR Narayana Murthy, Deepak Parekh, Harish Ma­nwani, Manvinder (Vindi) Banga and Sunil Mittal (see chart) into their global boa­rds as they look to benefit from their global perspective and knowledge of Indian markets. That several Indian companies have expanded globally in a big way also make their faces familiar in the global corporate circles.

Experts reckon the trend to continue in near future as global corporations look to expand in markets such as India, which is still growing at a good pace compared with their own home markets, where the fears of recession are real.

Prithvi Haldea of Prime Database, which is closely looking at the board composition in Indian-listed companies through his directors database, said global corporations are hiring more and more Indians into their boards to benefit from their vast expertise in running successful companies, besides their networking and global perspective.

“I would call these board members as value directors as they bring value and their brand into the boards of gl­obal firms,” said Haldea. Th­ese MNCs are also highly reputed companies and it is a “win-win” situation for both these corporations as well as the Indian heads, he added.

Haldea said the MNCs also have big plans for markets such as India and hence the move to hire top Indian heads to give them insights into Indian consumer behaviour and the market complexities.

On Friday, French cement major Lafarge, which has significant presence in India, appointed Deepak Parekh into its international advisory board while Harish Manwani of Unilever was selected into the global board of US home appliances maker Whirlpool.

Last month, Marks & Sp­encer Group, a UK-based gl­obal retailer, picked Manvinder (Vindi) Banga, the former chairman of Hindustan Unilever, to its board as a non-executive director wh­ile in March, Bank of America announced the appointment of Mukesh Ambani, chairman of Reliance Indu­stries, into its board. In December last, Sunil Bharti Mittal, chairman of Bharti Airtel, was appointed as a non-executive member on its global board.

Except for Ratan Tata, who was appointed on board of Alcoa, the third largest aluminium maker, in 2007 and Narayana Murthy on HSBC board in 2009, all the other appointments are in the last 6-8 months. Anno­uncing appointment of Ma­nwani, Jeff M Fetig, chairman and CEO of Whirlpool, in a statement on Friday, sa­id his proven business leadership makes an “outstanding addition to our board”.

Shailesh Haribhakti, ch­airman of BDO Consulting, who is on board of several Indian firms, said it was indeed a great recognition of Indian governance knowle­dge and practise that top br­ains from Indian corporate houses are hired by global corporations into their boards. “Global boards will be enriched by the presence of Indians,” he said.

At the time of appointment of Mukesh Ambani, Bank of America's chairman Charles O Holliday, Jr had said in a statement, "Bank of America's shareholders will benefit from the global perspective Ambani brings to our board."

Haldea of Prime Databa­se said it was no surprise th­at Indian talent and expertise are sought after by global corporations, given that ma­ny Indians are leading some big MNCs. He is right. Indira Nooyi heads Pepsi while Vikram Pandit is in charge of Citigroup and Manwani was promoted to the post of COO of Unilever recently. Early this month Jaipur-born Anshu Jain was elevated co-chief executive of Deutsche Bank, Germany’s largest bank.