HR Roles in India – Time for a Transformation?

A few months ago when I first met Senior VP/ Human Resources in one of the top MNC, one of his comments completely threw me for a loop. I told him about how key decision makers on HRO currently look at informative websites for making their business decisions. Typically it is either a vendor selection or product selection. He believes that not many business leaders have time or interest needed to look at websites for this information or can influence their business decisions at all. This may be true to some extent when it comes to taking complex business decisions like whether or not to outsource their HR and such, but how much does this hold true for HR managers holding key responsibilities, particularly when they can not update themselves on the latest information in the HR industry globally?
I met another senior HR Manager in a Chennai call center and asked him if he looked at any HR informative websites or blogs and he answered a resounding NO.
The reason that he gave me was that his time was being directed away from this by hiring. This made me ponder for quite a spell. I wondered if this trend is visible only in India or globally. When I look at my Google statistics for HRO managers, 75 percent of the hits come from the US while only 5 percent come from India. I did also notice that 20 percent comes from Europe.
I thought that this figure may be realistic considering that my site does contain more articles that pertain to the United States, but only 5 percent of hits coming from India really concerns me. From my experience it has become very clear that Indian HR players are mostly concerned with hiring and are not in the position to go that extra mile with regards to a whole transformation into a strategic HR center that can compete with global HR standards. When viewing HR as a strategy business center, India still regards this as not really happening. An everyday job in the typical Indian HR department begins with viewing job requisitions from line managers, job postings, interacting with consultants, conducting entry and exit interviews, documenting for new employees and so on.
We have yet to see any HR leaders who play a vital role in key executive meetings. Most of the key HR decisions are still being made by the CEO or COO. The HR leaders simply implement these decisions once they are made.
Can you hear the cry among the community to bring a new role to the HR officers? Those in India however, are still so far from accepting this. It may be time for Indian HR to transform into strategic HR centers.