Unfortunately, like all exits cannot be clean and all exiles cannot be painless, all returns too cannot be rosy.
By Zafar Anjum
13 Oct 2008
Last month, Muthu returned to India. For good. A software developer with many years of experience, he did so after having spent about five years in Singapore. But perhaps this was not what he had intended in the first place.
Two years ago, he wanted to buy a house here, bring his family to Singapore and like many Indian expats lead a comfortable life. Just soon after, the lion city’s property boom started. The prices spiraled up so high that buying a HDB resale flat went out of his budget.
While he kept working patiently, leading a single man’s life, shoving down his throat little morsels of mirthless dosa and sambhar, he missed his family and children who lived in a Southern Indian town. His loneliness, interrupted by 8 hours of office work, stirred in him the longing to return to India.
The pull for him was not just emotional. It was also economically sensible. In a booming India, finding a job in the software industry, with salaries as good as in Singapore or even better, was not impossible.
Muthu is not alone in what he is doing-- many people he knew were already returning to India with good packages. A large number of Indian expats, even from countries in Europe and US, are returning to India. This is consistent with the trend of today’s Indians with dulled tempatation to work overseas.
From brain drain to brain gain
Before the 1990s, Indian economy was not liberalised. The country’s rate of growth was tediously slow and employment opportunities were limited. Talented or resourceful young men and women sought to get out of the country to seek better fortune wherever the grass looked greener: from North America (USA and Canada) to Europe (primarily UK) and Australia to the Middle East.
The government bemoaned the loss of this human resource, calling the phenomenon India’s “brain drain.” Apparently, those who could not get out of the country, for whatever reason, dubbed these Indians living or working overseas (called NRIs or non-resident Indians) as unpatriotic—they seemed to be disloyal to India, having studied in schools and universities funded with public money and then running out of the country to benefit other nations with their knowledge and skills. But in their hearts, most looked at them with awe and envy, jealous of the salaries that they earned in dollars and pounds and the lifestyle that was full of a first world creature comforts. In the India of those days, cars and even electrical appliances such as microwaves and air conditioners were out of the reach of the salaried class people.
After India liberalised its economy, this group of overseas Indians –part of the larger over 20 million Indian diaspora—became a boon to a resurgent India. They became ambassadors of brand India in foreign countries and they became investors in India’s growth. The billions of dollars that came from them in annual remittances consecrated the perceived lack of loyalty that had initially marred their voluntary exit from the country. Many even began to return to India to lead companies or to work in leading companies and live in the comfort of gated communities or with their extended families. According to an estimate by the Returned Non-Residents Association, over 30,000 IT professionals returned to Bangalore in 2005.The numbers of total returnees would be much higher now.
There was this transformation in the image of the overseas Indians. As Indian diplomat and writer Shashi Tharoor has noted, from the non-resident Indians (NRI), they became now-required Indians (NRI).
While the number of returnees has increased, migration out of India also dropped. In the 1990s, Indians were the third largest group of migrants, sending out 7.4 million Indians. By 2005, India’s ranking dropped to 8th from 3rd, and the country sent out just 5.7 million people.
Why are they returning?
The Indians are returning for many reasons. As many have pointed out earlier, these include attractive remuneration packages, a comfortable lifestyle comparable with life overseas, advancement opportunities and proximity to family and friends.
But there might be some push factors as well. For instance, as Mint columnist R N Bhaskar has noted, all countries in the European Union (EU) must first consider the job applications of unemployed EU citizens before looking at those of non-EU migrants.
It is not just the IT professionals. Even construction workers are returning to India. Notes Bhaskar: “A couple of years ago, construction workers and others from lesser paid professions began a return trek to India. Most of them often found West Asia a very attractive place to work. But the construction boom here made many of these Indians look towards India once again. For the past two years, most countries in West Asia have witnessed a reverse migration of Indian workers. Construction companies in India had increased the salary bar for skilled workers. Not surprisingly, costs of employing drivers, electricians and other such workers have spiralled in West Asia, particularly in Dubai and Riyadh.”
Now, as the global credit crisis is taking its toll on the finance and banking sector, many Indian finance sector employees are expected to return to India too. “Most of these people are likely to head back to India, where hopefully a growing banking sector will be able to absorb them,” says Bhaskar. “These prodigals may not be able to draw better salaries and may be returning primarily because they will have few options left.”
Unfortunately, like all exits cannot be clean and all exiles cannot be painless, all returns too cannot be rosy. But there is little doubt that a gargantuan India will absorb these returnees in one or another sector.
Zafar Anjum is the online editor of MIS Asia portal.
