To Go or Stay? Indian-Americans Debate Future Prospects

When you flip through an e-book in the stylish new Amazon’s kindle, you are actually turning a new page in the history of innovation in India. The better part of the kindle was designed in India. India is changing from a land of call-centers and service companies to a hub of innovation. People who have returned from the United States are spearheading most of theses innovations. India Community Center, Milpitas, organized an invigorating forum on the controversial subject “Was leaving India and coming to America a life mistake? Is America’s loss India’s gain?”

The forum started off with a discussion about the current economic trends in India. It then delved into two diametrically opposite views about N.R.Is ( Nonresident Indians) returning to India.

Navneet S Chugh, the Managing Partner of global law practice The Chugh Firm, encouraged NRIs to return to India in order to participate in its unprecedented growth. “India is at a stage where it needs critical-mass of intellectual power to make it an economic super power. We all owe it to our homeland to return back at this juncture. ”

Vivek Wadhwa, a Fellow with the Labor and Worklife program at Harvard Law School and an adjunct professor at Duke appealed to the dual loyalties of the Indian American. “The United States is at cross-roads in terms of economic growth. Reverse brain drain is a severe loss to America and has a significant impact on the economy. Given that America has given us world class education, we should stay back and help stabilize the U.S. economy.”

The most visible conversation in this forum was about the “change” happening in India. Traditionally the Indian companies prospered by catering to the needs of the west. But, recently, Indian companies have started looking domestically. The Tatas and Reliance are building products and services to cater to the Indian market. Companies are targeting local demographics and are putting out products to solve domestic issues.

Researchers from IBM India, have developed VoiceGen, a Google-like search engine using the mobile telephony infrastructure. In India, 55% of the population has mobile access, while only 7% have Internet access. IBM piloted a Spoken Web concept in Andhra Pradesh to help farmers get quick solutions to problems relating to their crops. When a user calls in and leaves a message with a tag, the responses to the query are bundled and available to him when he calls back to the system using the same tag. With agricultural officers and farmers monitoring the system, information and remedies flow seamlessly and rapidly. Spoken Web was invented to empower people who did not have internet access. Spoken Web is now a part of IBM’s Mobile Web Framework initiative and is the first such initiative to be led by a research lab outside the United States. Manish Gupta, the director of the IBM research lab in India, is a product of the reverse brain drain. He returned to India two years ago after working in IBMs New York lab. He has several successful projects under his belt including the IBM blue gene super computer project.

According to Wadhwa, the Indian research wings of non-tech sectors are equally productive. He estimates that 5% of the patents of the US pharmaceutical companies originate from India. “According to the current trend these young researchers typically move out of the big conglomerate to start their own companies.” Wadhwa jokingly said, “In India you typically need to be in a big company until you get married. Once you find a bride you can start a venture on your own with funding from the father-in-law!” In addition to the reverse brain drain, American companies have to plan for attrition of their top overseas researchers. “U.S. companies need to prepare for this wave.”

Wadwha blames the U.S. green-card laws for starting the reverse drain. “The number of green cards did not keep up with the H1B visas, eventually causing well trained folks to return back. What started as a trickle is now a flood.” The United States spends a lot on higher education and if a bulk of the students with Ph.D.s and Masters from the Unites States return to their homeland, it could start hurting the economy. “In my class at Duke, I conduct a survey every year to find out how many people want to return to their homeland after graduation. That number has been steadily increasing and is close to 80%.”

In his paper “Issues in Science and Technology” Wadhwa urges the U.S. government to act fast. “The United States, long the beneficiary of talented immigrants, needs to act quickly to keep these valuable workers from leaving to pursue expanding opportunity in their home countries. Although most of the national immigration debate originates with those who want to limit immigration, U.S. policymakers should be focusing on the more important task of attracting and keeping more highly skilled foreign-born scientists and engineers. The future strength of the nation's economy will depend on the creation of vibrant new companies, and the development of innovative products and services will be produced by well-paid workers. In recent years, immigrants have been playing a rapidly expanding role as high-tech entrepreneurs and inventors, providing an essential service to the country. The danger is that the United States is taking this immigrant contribution for granted at a time when changes in the global economy are providing alternative career opportunities for the most talented people.”

Chugh is convinced that the loss that the United States faces due to reverse drain is negligible when compared to losses incurred by India due to brain drain. “The Indian Institutes of technology (IITs) basically trained engineers for the U.S. market. Out of 140,000 students that graduated 40,000 came to the United States. So far India was paying for student education and not getting anything back in return. Now is a good time to return to India.”

Chugh emphasized the need for returning Indians; especially those who are financially secure, to start making changes in the corporate culture. “Our legal offices in India are run as ethically as possible. We are willing to walk away from business that involve bribery.” The innovation fever is on in India. We now need strong leaders to establish a culture of ethical business practice. “When you have financial clout you can adhere to your principles.”

Most people in the discussion conceded that top-tier salaries in India are now exceeding U.S. salaries. Chugh acknowledged that this increases the rich-poor divide. “But rising tide will eventually lift all boats.”