Indian companies, particularly in the IT and BPO segments have reached a point where they can teach the world many lessons on workforce training and development, a recent study has suggested.

The study, titled "How the Disciple became the Guru", released by the Kauffman Foundation and conducted by Duke University’s global engineering & entrepreneurship project team, is a research effort based on talks with leading Indian companies across sectors such as IT, BPO, banking and pharmaceuticals.

Vivek Wadhwa, the lead author of the study says that the researchers were surprised at India's ability in R&D despite a messed up education system. "It's not the universities that train these specialists, but the surrogate education system created by the Indian companies," said Wadhwa who is the Engineering executive-in-residence at Pratt School.

Companies in India go to colleges much before they hire in order to help students become employment ready, the study says and notes other such innovative practices developed by Indian companies to tap the talent pool. It refers to Satyam Computer's project of having 80 senior executives serve as mentors on university campuses and Infosys' initiative to hire and train final year engineering students for short-term projects.

Genpact is another company that hires undergraduatse to work for three-days a week for a salary in addition to paying up half their tuition fees, the study notes while pointing out the company's novel practice of running 22 retail recruitment kiosks which contributes to as much as 25 per cent of Genpact's staff.

It also highlights the fact that Indian companies hire based on general ability and attitude rather than specialised domain expertise or technical skills. In-house training provides the candidates with requisite skills as evident from the hiring patterns in BPO companies.