New Delhi, July 18 -- A metallurgy degree from Manchester and an MBA from Birmingham were meant to secure Bish Agrawal a highly paid seat in an established corporate boardroom. Instead, he gambled on an industry that did not yet exist in India.

In an economy held hostage by the Licence-Permit Raj, Indian business houses relied almost entirely on family networks and trusted acquaintances to hire senior leaders. The very idea of a stranger cold-calling a CEO with a job opportunity bordered on scandalous. Yet Agrawal walked away from corporate comfort to build a business dedicated to doing exactly that. He called it professional recruitment, even though corporate India did not yet have a name for the profession.

Five decades later, the ind...