Also a lot of Indians flying in India on a FATA too. If they learnt to fly overseas, they hold a foreign licence, and it is easier to do the FATA process than convert to a local licence.
In my time in India (‘09), the FATA Indian F/O’s were paid as expats, so to take a command required them to get a DGCA licence and go on “local” terms, which was less than they were getting as an F/O. Not too many takers at that time. There was a push to get rid of the expats, and give the upgrades to the locals, but it was a slow process.
After the Mangalore crash things moved a bit quicker, until the “fake licence” scandal was exposed.
Things have been pretty bad in Indian aviation recently, with the collapse of Jet Airways and others, and due to COVID the Middle East Airlines struggling too. It is no wonder the Indians are looking to Africa for employment.
Some great guys and girls flying in India, but there are also some “average” pilots too, (just like everywhere) and the Safety culture has been exposed a few times as not being as robust as we consider normal else where.
Still one of the funniest places I have every worked, but you need to keep sharp and be very careful of not allowing your personal standards to slip.