The inspiration for this column came from the account I heard of the encounter of an applicant for US visa with a US official at one of the consular offices in India. During the customary interview, to a question by the official, the applicant assured him that she was determined to return to India after completing her education.
To which, the official’s rude riposte was: “I don’t think you ever will. For people like you, going to the US is like a villager going to town!” The poor applicant had to lump this lest any rejoinder on her part should result in refusal of the visa. (She got the visa!) It cannot be denied that the rude remark contains a grain of truth. Indeed, Indians consider themselves lucky to get away from all the travails and tribulations which, in their view, living in India entails.
As against the story of the visa applicant, I have the behaviour of the middle-aged son of my relative, who has settled down as an American citizen and a highly paid professional. When I asked him to come back to India, he was furious. He flatly dismissed the idea, exclaiming, “Who will come back to the squalor, inefficiency, corruption and the daily torture of pitting himself against public officials for getting even little things done?”
Till recently, this more or less reflected the attitude of the Indian diaspora which is the largest in the world, estimated at 25 million, (or two per cent of India’s population). Its total estimated income is $160 billion, or 35 per cent of India’s GDP, as against $700 billion, or 66 per cent of China’s GDP, in the case of the Chinese diaspora, representing four per cent of its population.
REVERSE MIGRATION
According to a paper published under the auspices of the London School of Economics, in respect of the FDI also, Indian diaspora accounts for only 4.18 per cent of the total, whereas the Chinese diaspora has directly invested close to 70 per cent in the country of their origin.
Some recent reports and surveys suggest a reverse migration brought on by the increasing attractiveness of India on several counts: The vast strides it has made in the post-liberalisation era; conditions similar to those in rich countries in the form of humongous malls awash with the same kind and quality of products and displayed in the same glittering manner; and the reputation India has acquired as an emerging economic giant, which the world powers are eager to welcome as their strategic partner.
When these features are set against the shrinking opportunities for employment and continuing layoffs in industrial countries following the havoc caused by global recession, it is no surprise that Indians settled abroad should want to give India a try.
Both the Association of Executive Search Consultants, a global association of executive search and leadership consulting firms, and the US-based Kelly Services, which undertakes comprehensive studies of preferences, patterns of mobility and problems of the workforce, are predicting the return of a large number of expat Indians to India in view of the scope for their talents and experience provided by openings in all sectors of the domestic economy.
RISING TRENDS
Kelly Services, in fact, is projecting that three lakh Indian professionals employed overseas will be coming back by 2015. It is a projection that is impossible to either contest or accept, since no progressive official figures are available, as far as I can make out, from the Internet, including the Web site of the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA).
But, from what is evident to perceptive observers in the fields of industry and business, the numbers of Indians returning, and preparing to return, to India are undoubtedly showing rising trends. India can certainly do with their talents and expertise.
In a commendable move, the Ministry has already brought out an impressive publication, Returning Indians – All that you need to know’ put together by Deloitte on behalf of the Overseas Indians Facilitation Centre and the Confederation of Indian Industry.
(Interestingly, the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (Overseas Indians’ Day), sponsored by MOIA, is being celebrated on January 9 each year, a date that commemorates the return of Mahatma Gandhi to India from South Africa!)
Welcome back, overseas Indians, India wants you!
Keywords: Indians studying abroad
Comments:
no.. we do not need them who were plainly greedy..it is only greener
pastures which attracts them. First in line should be those who used
Indian tax payer's money to acquire their professional skills and
toiled in India o make it what it is to day. Comparing them to Mahatma
Gandhi would be blasphemous as he did not come back to India to become
CEO of India.
India has enough talent left and these NRI's only crib all that is bad
about India and the western world they adopted which did not accepted
them want to feel home, then they are welcome. Many Indian's who with
sheer grit and hard work put in their chosen field in India understands
India better and they work in fields leaving their comfy life to make
the fellow Indians life some what better and this too with humility.
It's all very well,but as long as the dynasty rule would remain in India,it wouldn't be a wise move.The corruption and nepotism is the order of the day, where a average person doesn't matter what expertise he or she has got,would not be allowed to flourish.At least in these countries,there is rule of law and if one has some expertise or talent,no one stops him to develop himself.He or she does not have to know any Godfather, politician,Babu in the office or Bureaucrat to get started.In these countries of West even though one is an outsider but he/she is a person in his own right unlike his country of birth,where only currency is that of dynasty.Everything revolves around that family,rest are shown the door to hell.So please don't try to invoke emotions and sentiments.The day the dynasty falls and free and fair political and administrative structure is established,majority would think of returning.Until that day sing hymns praising Her Majesty and Crown Prince.That is India of today.
Please get your facts right. You mention 160 billion $ as 35% of India's GDP. India's GDP is
above 1.8 trillion $ (1800 billion $) all numbers presented in the article need a current check!!
Dear Mr BSR
Compared to western nations, the prospects for Indian economic environment is turning out to be better. One may agree job opportunities and life styles directly depend on the prevailing economic environment and this alone could trigger this RM to happen in large numbers. Psychological 'alien' feelings and differential societal treatments (howsoever small) while living in foreign countries are compromised now for the sake of economic reasons. If economic reasons turn out to be better in India, surely this could happen. I have lived through this in my personal life and hence I can appreciate this. Thanks for this opportunity to interact.
Regards
1. US official remark is rude but not out of rudeness. With 8%
unemployment, scare jobs, vanishing choice of jobs, no growth jobs and
low paying jobs, US looks India of mid 1980. So the official instead of
telling the truth chose to be rude :-)
2. The applicant theory that she has to return to India is false. When
you get a US visa for study, you can transfer to H1 legally. There is
no moral or legal obligation that you have to come back to India (or
for that matter any other country that you go from to USA) as you are a
law abiding person of US once you are there.
3. Infact US does not want talented people to study & leave. How funny
is the offficial. If I were a US citizen, I want talent to stay back in
US thereby providing healthy competition and also creating new jobs by
opening start up's.
4. The applicant should have pointed above points and should have told
the official that India should open Visa to US citizens so that talent
can come to India and start next google and apple
@ k.p..nagarajan:
This is meaningless rant against NRIs. If given a chance, everyone will
bail out from a nation which is having so many problems. The author is
dreaming when he thinks overseas Indians will invest or return.. mostly
due to loss of jobs, but not willingly.
There is a distinct difference between the treatment by government of
India and others. At recruitment stage, reservation is assured and now
in promotion too. A later entrant will sit over an earlier entrant due
to reservation quota. This is in government service where one can
quote rules and need do no work since the rules are yarned that way.
The head hunters poach for the best talents slogging in government
services and government loses. Government rules do not provide for
merited promotion.Naturally, a country like US thrives on the talents
of foreigners in all fields identifying the cream of intellect. If
government wants, it can harass any one by unleashing the hound of CBI
or enforcement which are capable of spinning ideal stories for
arresting as desired by government. The diaspora visit the native land
out of the love for its culture but reconcile to the fact, that a
difficult life in US is better tolerable than a peaceless life in
native land.
This is plain wishful thinking on part of the author tat many Indians
are planning to come back to homeland in hoards. Te fact remains that
to this day and this very moment many bright young Indians with tons
of talents in all professional spheres are trying their best to leave
the country against difficult immigration circumstances. Why? They
see no hope for themselves in the country of their birth and the land
to which they love as much as they love themselves. The fact remains
that there are not much growth opportunities for young Indians in
India in a slowing economy and it is extremely hard to set up their
own small businesses. Government and it's economic agencies
patronizing only big businesses at the cost of small businesses. One
important point totally overlooked by the author is will the returning
professionals be able to seamlessly fit into the Indian work
environment which is far more complex and full of pressures & pulls as
compared to the Western world. Think it over.
Sir, please refer to your previous article on our personal hygiene and wide spread practice
of defecating in the open spitting and our water bodies chess pools, garbage everywhere , I
wonder why put to hardship the lucky few to come back and share the misery with the
wallowing. Let them live in comfort.
Overseas Indians have money, knowledge, skills, or abilities, or some combination of these. India still needs all of these. But, India also has a surplus of talented people in certain areas or levels. Where there is a match, people do return to India and work happily thereafter. Since it has a large population, India has to depend on people emigrating rather than immigrating. With affordable and global online communication facilities, there is no real need for knowledgeable people to actually return to India to assist the country with their knowledge and skills. When corruption is controlled and services become more readily available, more people will be returning to be physically closer to their relatives and friends and serve the country.
One only thinks about the possible aspects of a returning NRI loaded with money and technologies to serve the beloved mother country. May as it may, there are some demerits to this idea if reverse flow of diaspora occurs. Not many people appear to realize that India has severe food shortage and close to 800 million people go to bed hungry. Mr. Raghavan compares India to China Io many points. In the case of food, China produces close to 600 million tons of food per year compared to India’s 240 million tons. In China when the diaspora start coming back they will not make any dent in per capita availability of food. But India with its food shortage will be adversely affected rendering more people hungry since the returning person will consume at least five times more food than an average Indian consumes. Based on this fact alone, the NRI will be doing a service to the country if they simply keep away. Technology and money transfers can be done without his physical presence in India.
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