India is literally rolling out the red carpet in an effort to attract skilled professionals residing overseas to come back home. This initiative builds upon recent challenges over the H-1B visa program in the United States. This project is inspired by the more than 500,000 Indians who have given up their citizenship since 2020. A significant number of them are willingly looking—fleeing even—for greener pastures with more welcoming climates.
Sanjaya Baru, former media adviser to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, perhaps hits the nail on the head. He argues that the central government needs to do a lot more to stop the outflow of talent. He highlights the necessity of creating an ecosystem where highly educated individuals can thrive, focusing on enhancing research and development (R&D) and education standards in India.
The government has to work hard to recruit people to return. That’s the case even for the first-generation billionaire techies, scientists, and entrepreneurs. And that takes work, and it has to be made to come from the very top. Baru stated.
The push factors driving Indians abroad involve a stifling reg environment, oppressive bureaucracy, and a difficult ease-of-business environment. According to reports, these issues have driven many professionals to seek opportunities abroad, with anecdotal evidence suggesting that an increasingly hostile immigration environment in the U.S. has prompted some to consider returning home.
Nithin Hassan made a courageous leap of faith. He quit his $1 million a year job at Meta in the U.S. and moved back to India. He saw the national groundswell of support for repatriation and did something about it. To better equip Indians to tackle the challenges of going back home, he started a platform, B2I (Back to India).
Dreamers, doctors, and techies have all lost faith that their green card will ever come. Consequently, inquiries to B2I have shot through the roof, almost tripling since Trump began his second term. Over the last half-year alone, over 200 NRIs [non-resident Indians] have contacted us seeking to find a way back. Hassan reported.
India has a long history of notable scientists and engineers heading back to India. Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first prime minister, lobbied with fiery zeal for the best minds in space and nuclear technology to return home. He had them assist in founding lasting educational establishments such as the Indian Institute of Science. That incentive to come back is no longer there according to Baru for the same reasons.
They were motivated by a singular purpose intertwined with the fervor of their new nationalism. What’s the incentive to return today?” he asked.
As a result, Shivani Desai, CEO of BDO Executive Search, has seen an increase from Indian students at Ivy League schools. This season, the demand from students eager to return home immediately following their studies has increased by 30%. She spoke to the obvious increase she has seen in senior tech leaders looking at India as a credible alternative to their organizations and careers.
If anything, too many firms continue to chase established markets. At the same time, Desai has seen huge CXOs and senior tech leadership movement looking at India as potentially a serious destination.
Beyond fixing regulatory hurdles, infrastructural investment is important to winning talent back home. Urban congestion and deteriorating physical infrastructure are continuing and worsening challenges for Indian cities that require immediate redress.
Knowing this, Germany has jumped in to seek the same skilled migrants for themselves as well, especially from India. To this end, the ambassador has been selling his country as a “predictable and rewarding destination.” This global war for talent increases the imperative on India to make itself an attractive enough proposition for professionals to return.
As the Indian government works towards encouraging overseas citizens to contribute to nation-building, it faces the challenge of not only providing better opportunities but creating an environment conducive for professionals to thrive.