Abstract
According to Oxford Advanced Learner’s dictionary Brain Drain is “the movement of highly skilled and
qualified people to a country where they can work in better conditions and earn more money”. Brain-
drain can also be named as “human capital flight” because it resembles the case of capital flight, in
which mass migration of financial capital is involved. Indian Diaspora is a geographically diversified
Diaspora, which is spread in as many as 110 countries. The Government of India estimated that there
are 30 million Indian Diaspora spread across the world. The 30 million Indian human resource which is
working for the developed countries are highly skilled. We are generating valuable human capital with
our valuable money which is collected from the tax payers. But the tragedy is we are sending our skilled
human resource for the development of developed countries. India is becoming a major supplier of
human capital for the advanced economies. India is sending large numbers of these specialists
compared to other important origin countries. Brain drain is the current socio-economic problem of our
country. This paper mainly focuses on socio-economic aspects of brain drain.
Introduction
According to Oxford Advanced Learner‟s dictionary Brain Drain is “the movement of highly skilled and
qualified people to a country where they can work in better conditions and earn more money”.
Cambridge Online Dictionary defines “when large numbers of educated and very skilled people leave
their own country to live and work in another one where pay and conditions are better”.. Brain-drain
can also be named as “human capital flight” because it resembles the case of capital flight, in which
mass migration of financial capital is involved. Brain drain is usually regarded as an economic cost, since
emigrants usually take with them the fraction of value of their training sponsored by the government or
other organizations. It is a parallel of capital flight, which refers to the same movement of financial
capital. Brain drain is often associated with de-skilling of emigrants in their country of destination, while
their country of emigration experiences the draining of skilled individuals. Brain-drain can have many
reasons, for example-political instability of a nation, lack of opportunities, health risks, personal conflicts
etc. The term brain-drain was introduced by observing the emigration of the various technologists,
doctors and scientists, from various developing countries to more developed nations like USA, UK,
Germany, England etc. Now this phenomenon of brain drain has a conversed effect for a country in
which people are getting migrated and brain-drain of a nation becomes brain-gain for that particular
country. Usually all developing countries including India are suffering from brain drain and developed
countries like USA are having brain gain from this phenomenon. More or less, all the backward countries
are suffering from this problem. India is also one of the major nations in the world which is suffering
from this brain drain seriously at the present moment. The UNDP estimates that India loses $2 billion a
year because of the emigration of computer experts to the U.S. Indian students going abroad for their
higher studies costs India a foreign exchange outflow of $10 billion annually. Thousands of Indian
scientists, doctors, engineers and other qualified persons have migrated and are staying in other
countries. Every year hundreds of our best brains make frantic efforts to leave India The demand for
passports is increasing every year, even though more and more employment opportunities are being
created within the country. The steady outflow of our nation‟s talent, especially those educated, at the
cost of the tax payers‟ money, has caused concern to the government. Due to high salary and facilities
Indian youth is moving abroad. One reason as to why the developed countries prosper is because of the
high intellectual migrants from the poor developing countries. This „knowledge gap‟ is increasing and
the poor countries are becoming poorer and rich countries are emerging as knowledge countries and
they are ruling the world. In one other way globalization has helped in retaining the skilled people within
the country, because a person can work for a foreign company sitting at home in India. But in reality he
is working for an overseas country not for his own nation.
Indian Diaspora is a geographically diversified Diaspora, which is spread in as many as 110 countries.
The Government of India estimated that there are 30 million Indian Diaspora spread across the world.
The nature of settlement of Indian Diaspora can broadly divided into two parts, namely „old Diaspora‟
and „new Diaspora‟. The prominent countries that figure in the old Indian Diaspora are Malaysia,
Mauritius, Trinidad and Tobago, Fiji, Guyana, and Suriname and the important countries with the new
Diaspora are all the developed countries like – USA, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Apart from
these two, a good number of Indians also live in the Gulf region. The geographical distribution of Indian
migrant destination countries is defined by the level of qualification. The migration flows of the highly-
skilled are oriented towards traditional Indian destinations, namely: the US, Canada, the UK and more
recently toward non-English speaking EU countries. This wave was accelerated by Indian integration into
the world economy. Semi-skilled and unskilled Indian workers are predominantly concentrated in the
high-income countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council. These migrants have also been viewed for a long
time as key providers of remittances. Current emigrants from India show an evolution of Indian labour
migration, confirmed by the presence of highly-skilled flows towards the Gulf, a destination traditionally
reserved for unskilled and semi-skilled Indians. The same trend is recorded regarding highly-skilled flows
towards the US, Canada, Australia and Europe where unskilled Indian migrants mix with more qualified
categories.
Highly skilled Indians in the context of a knowledge based economy
India a «brain reservoir» in the new economy
The growth in knowledge intensive activities in the developed world has led to a growing demand for
S&E1 professionals. With an important reserve of trained people in this domain, India is becoming a
major supplier of human capital for the advanced economies. India is sending large numbers of these
specialists compared to other important origin countries. A relevant example is the number of Indian
students in science and engineering enrolled in US undergraduate degree programs. India, China, and
South Korea are the top countries of origin for foreign students in the United States in science and
engineering: India with 68,000 students in 2009 accounts for the largest number of foreign students
here, followed by China with 54 000 students. Together these countries account for almost 47% of all
foreign science and engineering student enrolled in U.S universities2. Germany is also recruiting foreign
students from India, notably in engineering and computer sciences. The United States remain the most
important host country of highly-skilled Indian migrants with more than 80% of Indian skilled migration
to all developed countries. In the host countries, Indian migrants are among the best educated and
highest-earning groups. The US Census Bureau’s 2008 American Community Survey found that 74.1% of
an estimated stock of 1.6 million of Indian immigrants held at least a bachelor's degree, and 68.9% were
hired in management, professional, and related positions (Naujoks, 2009). According to the US
Government Accountability Office (GAO), 46.9% of highly-skilled workers admitted under the H-1B visa
between fiscal year 2000 and fiscal year 2009 were born in India3. In 2004, the US was the favored
destination of 62% of the 71,290 physicians emigrating from India while 32% chose the UK (Bhargava,
Docquier, and Moullan, 2010). In the European Union, the UK is the first destination of highly-skilled
Indian migrants attracting two thirds of the total number of Indian migrants in Western Europe (Khadria,
1
Science and Engineering
2
oan Burrelli (2010), Science and Engineering Indicators Program, Division of Science Resources Statistics, National
Science Foundation
3
United States Government Accountability Office, H-1B Visa Program. Reforms are Needed to Minimize the Risks
and Costs of Current Program, Report to Congressional Committees, January 2011
2008). Indians also represented more than 40% of the estimated22,000 entries under the UK’s Highly-
Skilled Migrant Program4.
SOCIO – ECONOMIC ASPECTS OF BRAIN DRAIN IN INDIA
India – the brain reservoir in the new knowledge based economy
The growth in knowledge intensive activities in the developed world has led to a growing demand for
Science and Engineering professionals. With an important reserve of trained people in this domain, India
is becoming a major supplier of human capital for the advanced economies. India is sending large
numbers of these specialists compared to other important origin countries. A relevant example is the
number of Indian students in science and engineering enrolled in US undergraduate degree programs.
India, China, and South Korea are the top countries of origin for foreign students in the United States in
science and engineering: India with 68,000 students in 2009 accounts for the largest number of foreign
students here, followed by China with 54 000 students. Together these countries account for almost
47% of all foreign science and engineering student enrolled in U.S universities9. Germany is also
recruiting foreign students from India, notably in engineering and computer sciences. The United States
remain the most important host country of highly-skilled Indian migrants with more than 80% of Indian
skilled migration to all developed countries. In the host countries, Indian migrants are among the best
educated and highest-earning groups. The US Census Bureau‟s 2008 American Community Survey found
that 74.1% of an estimated stock of 1.6 million of Indian immigrants held at least a bachelor's degree,
and 68.9% were hired in management, professional, and related positions (Naujoks, 2009).
According to the US Government Accountability Office (GAO), 46.9% of highly-skilled workers admitted
under the H-1B visa between fiscal year 2000 and fiscal year 2009 were born in India10. In 2004, the US
was the favored destination of 62% of the 71,290 physicians emigrating from India while 32% chose the
UK (Bhargava, Docquier, and Moullan, 2010). In the European Union, the UK is the first destination of
highlyskilled Indian migrants attracting two thirds of the total number of Indian migrants in Western
Europe (Khadria, 2008). Indians also represented more than 40% of the estimated 22,000 entries under
the UK‟s Highly-Skilled Migrant Program.
Indian students: an important source of labour for developed economies
4
OECD, International Migration Outlook : SOPEMI 2008
An important place in the flows of well-trained Indian migrants is taken by Indian students. India, for
example, accounts for 5.5% of the 2.8 million students studying outside their home-country. After China
(421,100), the country sends the greatest number of students abroad: 153,300. In 2009, the EU-27
hosted 1.6 million foreign students in tertiary education.13 53,930 were Indian citizens. The first
destination was the UK (42,406) followed by Germany (3,629), Cyprus (1,588) and France (1,252).
According to the table below, in 2009, India was behind only China in sending students in the EU-27. The
other two main countries of origin were Morocco with 44,800 students and the United States with
32,100 students. Nigeria and Brazil, the two non-Asian big demographic pools send only, respectively
half and one third of India‟s numbers.
India a supplier of young and well trained-people for European countries
Increasing economic interdependence among nations, growing demand for skilled labour in the
knowledge economy not to mention demographic trends are all strengthening the position of India as a
major supplier of young, educated and qualified manpower for the EU. Owing to its demographic profile
and its English-speaking population, India, with its large reserves of highly-skilled workers, has emerged
as one of the most prominent country to fill the supply gaps in the labour-deficient economies of the
developed world. Taking into account EU economic objectives coupled with demographic and ageing
effects, Member States have put in place selective immigration policies aimed at attracting highly-skilled
professionals and tertiary-level international students from South Asia. Through the European Blue Card,
following the principles of the American Green Card, the EU intends to attract 20 million well-trained
workers in the next 20 years (Sawahel 2007, Khadria, 2008b).Moreover, negotiations in early 2012 over
the free-trade agreement launched in 2007 between the EU and India could reinforce the immigration
of highly-skilled Indians to the EU, which will mean easier access for Indian workers to EU countries in
return for access to India‟s domestic market.
BRAIN DRAIN V/S BRAIN GAIN
There is increasing awareness that migration can benefit both the „sending‟ and the „receiving‟
country. In the long run brain drain may be converted into brain gain: something particularly relevant to
India. Until recently, the role of the overseas Indian community in the development of the homeland
concerned only financial resources. Estimated at 30 million and with a presence in 189 countries, the
Indian Diaspora produces an annual economic income of about $400 billion, almost 30 percent of
India‟s GDP27. Desai, Kapur and McHale (2001) found that the 1 million Indians in the United States
who represent only 0.1 percent of India‟s population earn the equivalent of about 10% of India‟s
national income. The estimated volume of remittances in 2010 was $55 billion or 3.9% as a share of
GDP. Naturally, these financial resources contributed to development processes in India. But in addition
to direct financial advantage, Indian expatriates abroad, especially highly–qualified expatriates bring
other benefits such as image improvement for the country, knowledge transfers, access to new markets,
business networks.
CONCLUSION
For the balance of power and for the staggered development of the world, it is very important to stop
the phenomena of brain-drain. This will help a particular country to use all local skilled citizens for
development and proliferation. But to hold these skilled workers at their native places, it is also
important to provide them enough work opportunities and living facilities. For this purpose, developed
nations should help developing countries with necessary money and resources. So that each and every
human of this planet can have good standard of living and each and every nation can introduce itself as
a developed nation. The UNDP estimates that India loses $2 billion a year because of the emigration of
computer experts to the U.S. Indian students going abroad for their higher studies costs India a foreign
exchange outflow of $10 billion annually. These statistics clearly shows the “human capital flight” of our
country. This scenario must change for the sustainable growth of the nation.
