The "brain drain" of India
Indian software engineers are known for their technical skills which make them favorite of many global companies. According to an Indian government's study, it is estimated that around 75 per cent of India's graduates from their top universities such as Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) leave the country to work in US, and Europe. Most of them came to high-tech companies like Microsoft, Intel, Google, Facebook, Apple, Cisco, and Oracle, etc.
In the early day of the high tech industry (1980 to 2000) less than 10% of the IT workers in the U.S were Indian. Over time, there was an increase in the immigration of Indian IT professionals. Today, there were 1.8 million Indian engineers worked in California alone and approximately 1.2 million scattered in other states. According to the government study, many of them have been able successfully establish their own companies and become multi-millionaires. Today companies owned by Indian's engineers in the U.S are worth more than $40 billion.
Less than 10 percent of them return to India. Most came back to set up their own outsourcing companies to take advantage of their country's most valuable resources: skilled workers. Today the IT outsourcing industry is the fastest growing and most profitable business in India. From less than $20 million in 1990 the industry has grown into a $97 billion in 2010 and expected to achieve $200 billion by 2018.
Information technology has opened a huge door of opportunity that many Indian ever dream of. This happens because of the better future aspects that students can get in the developed nations. Each year, hundred thousand Indian students enroll in U.S universities for their better education systems and technological advancements. These students excel themselves in schools, achieve the highest degrees that get attention of U.S companies. It is not difficult for companies to hire a foreigners as long as they had been educated in the U.S and achieved a degree in critical fields such as information technology. The critical shortage of skilled workers are opening more opportunities for them to stay rather than returning to their country. The other reason for them to stay is the better pay scale. The value their work is pay accordingly and the chance of promotion are mostly based on their works rather than family connection.
An Indian student explained: “If I return to India, I will end up putting in my whole life working at the same position and the same income that will barely support my family. In India, the promotion largely depends upon the amount of time you held the office and the connection factors. If you do not know somebody or willing to do something “special” for somebody, you will never go anywhere. Innovative ideas have no value there, improvement is a joke, working hard is an illusion as nobody care. You have a top degree from the best school in the world but you will spend most of your time in meetings with people who are less educated than you but they are your bosses.”
India has an outdated system administration that has been continuing from ancient time to today. For many years Indian congress has discussed about improving it. There were many plans, there were many directives, there were so many meetings and arguments but nothing has happened. The sentiment is “If it is not broken, why fix it?” or “We do not need to copy anybody. What is working in the U.S may not work in India. We need to follow our own way.” One Indian company owner said: “I can start a company in the U.S for less than a week. I can do the same in China for less than a month. If I do it in India, the paperwork and all the administration things would require at least six months, if I am lucky.” The better salaries, strong financial security, better workplaces, and luxurious life are the main reasons why Indians prefer to settle outside and never come back.
This issue has had a major setback on the future growth and development of India. A National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM) report has projected that India needs 1,40,000 to 2,000,000 software workers for 2010-2020 but it could not find the skills due to the “brain drain” issue. The report also finds that 75% of current IT graduates could not work in the industry as most of them receive trainings from state universities which are known to have the most archaic training curriculum among developing nations. It requires at least ten to twelve more months in retraining to get them the needed skills to work in the industry.
What can be worse for a country that today holding the largest number of technical workers and has the largest software exports of approximately $100 billion dollars? If you ask an Indian engineer, then he probably will tell you about there are actually two education systems in India. The top tier schools are very selective but the state schools are much easier but have archaic training. Top students have to prepared for years in high school to seek admissions to top Indian universities. They have to pass so many examinations to get in. Even when they are in, they still have to go through the toughest studies and rigorous trainings so they can excel where ever they go in the world. The issue is after the training, most of them would seek to further their education or employment elsewhere rather than in their own country. Students who graduated from Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) are famous worldwide and can go almost everywhere. Today, this “Brain drain” statistics are increasing each year and it does not seem to change.
Sources
- Blogs of Prof. John Vu, Carnegie Mellon University
