Reversing brain drain to brain gain

When Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits the United States in a few days, his most important stop will be at Facebook headquarters.

There is a strong codependency between Indian immigrant entrepreneurs and engineers and Silicon Valley; and, increasingly, between Silicon Valley’s global growth prospects and the massive Indian market.

What does Modi hope to get out of the visit? Talent.

We’re all familiar with the wave of engineers and information technology graduates that flowed from India to Silicon Valley in recent decades. Conversely, the U.S. tech sector’s outsourcing created many IT jobs in India, transforming cities such as Bengaluru and Pune. But to date, this talent has focused on satisfying the demand for products and services in America and other developed economies, thus limiting its impact within India.

Now the time is ripe for a second wave — in the opposite direction. Today the demand for innovation and technology products is in India, and the top talent needed to make it happen is in Silicon Valley.

Modi has announced a “Digital India” initiative that follows an ambitious nationwide biometric identification project, alongside a plan to create 100 “Smart Cities.” Digital India aims to increase Internet access in India; currently only 40 percent of the population have some basic online access, and only 10 percent have access at decent speeds. Meanwhile, Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg, who met Modi in New Delhi this summer, are backing Internet.org’s goal of connecting everyone in the world to the Internet.

Modi’s ambitions have energized Indians, including many who left the country years ago. I came to the United States more than 30 years ago as a graduate student, accepted an assistant professorship at UCLA and eventually became a naturalized U.S. citizen. But I still go back to India every year to teach, research and participate in social initiatives.

I share the skepticism of many about whether whether Modi can follow through on his vision. Getting things done in India requires far more than grand ideas and capital. The bureaucracy is powerful and corrupt. When I have approached ministers with ideas on how we can use technology for financial inclusion and women’s safety, the ministers have received them with enthusiasm, but bureaucrats’ follow-up responses have ranged from a lack of urgency to utter indifference.

Excessive nationalism is another stumbling block. While the United States benefits from importing talent and ideas from elsewhere, India’s political culture resists even the reimportation of successful entrepreneurs of Indian heritage. Many vested interests argue that anyone holding a position of power must be a citizen of India. This becomes a circular argument because India does not allow dual citizenship, so many talented people of Indian origin are naturalized U.S. citizens who had to renounce their Indian citizenship. Sam Pitroda, a telecom visionary and entrepreneur who was invited by Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in the 1980s to reform the antiquated telecom industry, had to renounce his U.S. citizenship to take an important government role.

Modi, and India more broadly, should invite some of his nation’s impressive diaspora to go home. The brain drain from India to the U.S. over many decades now has the potential to turn into a brain gain for India.