Call it the ultimate relocation. Drugmakers may be slashing headcount in most every location, division and function, but their Indian subsidiaries are hiring, and The Economic Times is keeping track. Merck, which set shop in India a year ago, is doubling headcount to 1,600. Meanwhile, Pfizer and Glaxo are augmenting their teams to market new products.

“The company is going ahead with its stated plans to be among the top five companies in the country by 2015,” Naveen Rao, Merck’s managing director, tells the paper. “We plan to hire 400 people in 2009 and another 400 the following year. We have plans to launch six new drugs.”

By year’s end, Merck will have 800 people on its payrolls, of which 700 have already been hired. About 80 percent the 800 new employees will be in the sales force, he adds. By contrast, Merck last month announced it would cut 7,200 jobs globally (back story).

Pfizer is cutting 10 percent worldwide, but in India, its subsidiary is hiring and a headhunter, requesting anonymity, tells the paper that the drugmaker will add 200 to 250 to its current staff of 2,000. “Geographical expansion is a focus area for Pfizer India. Hiring, talent management and optimisation are key components of this plan,” a Pfizer spokesman tells the paper.

Similarly, Glaxo is hiring in India as it plans to launch new drugs and strengthen its 3,000-strong team. “Given our growth plans and expected product launches, we are continuing to recruit to meet our planned needs. An exercise to recruit about 100 people pan-India is underway,” a Glaxo spokesperson tells the Times.

And Novartis will create jobs for around 100 people as the drugmaker shifts its clinical and financial back-end jobs from its overseas plants to India. Elsewhere, Novartis will lay off 3,750 staff globally. Another recent entrant, Genzyme, will hire around 50 people in India in the next 12 months, according to ceo Henri Termeer.