Bangalore: The 'brain drain' which was once a serious issue for India, is now paying off in the form of reverse brain drain where a large number of foreign educated Indians are returning back to the country for entrepreneurial. Reverse brain drain is causing a big challenge to the U.S. today as large numbers of skilled workers are returned home from the United States to countries such as India and China. It is reported that the numbers returning per year are in tens of thousands.
In 1990s, the majority of U.S.-educated professionals from India and China choose to stay back in the States to work at research labs, universities, and private companies as the economic and professional opportunities in the U.S. were more attractive than in their home countries. But the trend was gradually changing by 2000s and the number of U.S.-educated immigrants returning to their home countries has been sharply increasing since then. While a good number of people where attracted by lucrative jobs in established firms in their home countries, many wanted to try their hands at entrepreneurship.
According to a Chinese Ministry of Education report, the number of overseas Chinese with a foreign education who returned to China in 2009 has reached upto108,000, which is an increase of 56.2 percent over the previous year. The trend is seeing a sharp increase as in 2010, the number hit an all-time high of 134,800.
Another startling fact is that a large number of people are waiting for permanent-resident visas and many of these workers get frustrated at the wait and return to their home countries. Several surveys on Indians who had worked in or received their education in the United States and returned to their home countries revealed that more than the restrictive immigration policies of the U.S., it the career opportunities, family ties, and quality of life that makes them think of their homeland as the better place to live. A majority of these returnees to India and China plans to start businesses within a few years of their come back.
According to a survey led by Vivek Wadhwa, a noted high-tech entrepreneur and academic, reveal that economic opportunities, access to local markets, and family ties are the main factor driving the Indians and the Chinese back home. More than 60 percent of Indian and 90 percent of Chinese respondents in the survey said the availability of economic opportunities in their countries was a very important factor. While 51 percent of Indians cited family ties, 53 percent ranked local markets as the key factor motivating their return. More than 60 percent of Indians and 51 percent of Chinese returnees took pride in contributing to their home country's economic development and rated this as a very important factor.
Interestingly only 4 percent of Indians consider government incentives as very important, but 23 percent of Chinese participants consider them as really important. However, a minority of 31 percent of Indians and 35 percent of Chinese ranked their country's infrastructure as another important factor.
Nearly 64 percent of Indian respondents said the salaries had been better in the United States than in India, which they noted as one of the main advantage being in the U.S.
As per the study, almost 72 percent of Indian and 81 percent of Chinese returnees feel that the opportunities to start their own businesses were better or much better in their home countries and only 14 percent of Indians and 5 percent of Chinese felt its better in the U.S.
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