With India’s high-tech industry expanding, a sizeable portion of the best and brightest talent from the Indian Institute of Technologies are staying home to launch careers or pursue higher education in India, rather than pack up to the U.S.

Across the world, IIT is revered for producing the best minds. Earlier the prized IIT graduates took the next flight abroad to pursue higher education. Well, this is not the case anymore.

Top-notch firms are wooing brand IIT like never before. This and a host of other factors have lead to a decline in the number of students opting for higher education abroad. Though official figures are hard to come by, it is said only 15-20 percent of IIT graduates are opting for higher studies abroad.

In 1993, about 84 percent of computer science graduates went to the U.S., for higher education but with the domestic economy improving and more high quality jobs available in India, the rate has come down. According to a survey by the IT body National Association of Software and Services Companies, the rate of Indian engineers going to the U.S., has come down to 60 percent.

In the year 2004-05, IBM offered 31 on-campus jobs to IIT Bombay graduates. 25 offers came from Oracle and 16 from Intel. Major consultancy firms like McKinsey and investment banks like Morgan Stanley are also recruiting new graduates for positions in India.

The `dual degree’ program introduced in some IIT branches has also helped. IIT Bombay, for instance, offers an integrated bachelor’s and master’s degree along with its regular B.Tech program. So, for these dual degree students, doing an MS abroad isn’t all that useful.

It’s India that beckons now.