Zynga to Double Indian Staff to 200, Taps Bollywood Talent

The creator of FarmVille and Mafia Wars, Zynga, is on an expansion spree. Zynga will hire 100 people in addition to the 100 employed in its Bangalore office in India. The Indian office is also Zynga’s first outside of U.S.

“About half the new employees would be game developers, the people who do the actual “coding” of the games,” Colleen McCreary, Zynga’s human resources chief told Reuters.

So, where do Zynga get talent from? The answer is Bollywood. Shan Kadavil, Zynga’s India manager was full of praise for the creative talents in Bollywood. In fact, Dhimant Vyas, an animator who designed the title sequence for the hit Bollywood film “Taare Zameen Par” was one of the talents picked up by Zynga.

It’s a good sign for India. More investments and expansion have confirmed that India is indeed one of the most important tech markets in Asia. While China is also a strong market (particularly Beijing), its high entry barrier and Internet censorship have made it unsuitable for expansion. Bangalore, the Silicon Valley of India, is certainly poised to be one of Asia’s “Silicon Valleys” with many international tech companies clustered in the same area. In contrast, China is filled with tech clones. But we believe innovation would soon be China’s core advantage as time passes