It’s not about patriotism.
It’s about systems for scientists.
We need to export people, not import.
Recently I had posted about brain drain being better than brain in the drain. It resonated with a lot of people and every career counsellor was using the post to sell their services.
Several govt officials found the post very troublesome and I now find myself on several committees wanting to get successful Indians back to promote sectors like AI and semiconductors. In my opinion this is not going to happen – and all we are doing is demotivating those who stayed back to work in India. Whilst we need to be inclusive and hire foreigners on a need and merit basis – and this could include people of Indian origin – we also need to increase our export of people by 5 to 10x.
Exporting people makes sound economic sense even if it involves a forex outflow on their education. Remittances almost always are several times the outflow. Besides we create a global workforce which will be ready for moving back when India is ready for them. In fact I am a great believer in providing cash subsidies to Indians wanting to go overseas for a PhD. PhD visas are easier, longer and forex outflow is lower.
India however is not yet ready for brain gain. Unlike China.
China engineered a reverse brain drain. Returning scientists are offered guaranteed funding, lab space, staff, fast-track authority, and freedom from bureaucracy. They return into power, not uncertainty. Research ecosystems—industry, defence, and academia—are already in place, so ideas move quickly to scale.
India, by contrast, mostly offers institutions without ecosystems. Returnees are often asked to re-prove themselves, navigate slow procurement, uncertain grants, and generalist administration. The result is weak research leverage: good salaries perhaps, but little real scientific power.
Speed, predictability, respect for technical authority, and mission-scale national projects matter more than emotional appeals. China provides these. India largely doesn’t—outside a few exceptions.
Until India shifts from “brain gain” slogans to real authority, funding, and ecosystem transfer, NRIs will continue to create impact abroad rather than fight the system at home. And staying abroad is good for them as well as for India.
Now come to manning AI companies in India. We have to take a 360 deg approach to build an ecosystem foundation. And this includes manufacturing, infrastructure, research and data protection. It also includes keeping BigTech out of certain markets. And to do that, we need local players. And public policy that creates those local ecosystems.
Unfortunately there is no short cut. We have an ecosystem for space and defence built over decades. We don’t have the same for AI or robotics. We are not going to be self sufficient soon. Nor are we going to succeed in anything govt owned or controlled or funded.
The govt approach will need to focus on policy and not PR, home grown and gradual.
