To people who choose to stay in India, what made you stay? 🪷

For me it was the army and followed by my corporate job. I never felt like leaving the country. It’s always better to live like a first class citizen in a 3rd world country than a third class citizen in a first world country. In addition to this, family is what defines us as Indians and that kept me hinged back home

Reduced brain drain is not true at all. Record number of students are leaving India. Not just to US / UK as in the past, but to literally any developed country. I think most of the people returning would be from US, after they became tired of waiting for a green card. If the US citizenship / PR could be done in 5-10 years, no one would leave there at all.

Might seem absurd, but one of the reasons was Have seen majority of the companies driving their least profitable work from India cost centre’s and when something becomes profitable or may have a potential of growing big, the work is shifted back to the core R&D offices. Wanted to prove that this can change, and create opportunities for myself and others who are working from India offices. Worked on making sure our team drives high velocity, high impact projects and have them going on end to end. The basic idea was to stay in India, build opportunities being here, because that scales the best in longer term.

Modi asked me to stay, so I stayed !

Eklauta beta hu, mumy bahar ny jaane degi 🥲

Cannot get out, if i get an opportunity I will jump away from India ASAP. Only reason I am here is because No Choice

Didn't realise until I went abroad for work - I hate the feeling of being an outsider. Felt like I would never fit in. I couldn't really blend in with natives and always ended up hanging out with Indian friends. Family is another big reason. It didn't feel right to be earning in dollars yet my parents had to take themselves to the hospital and spend the festivals alone.

I’m quite certain india is the best country to be in this century. China maybe a close one but they’re too opaque

I had an offer to relocate to Zurich, but had to stay here because: - My father is a government employee and I cannot afford to see my parents living alone, after all they have done for me. - I would have made almost same at both places with minor differences (due to taxes), and I would end up saving more in India (due to friendly policies for remote workers) - The country is going through interesting times, and I am optimistic that staying rich over here is much better than living in the near-bankrupt grinder mode in west. - I work on impactful projects from here, and I have the most supportive manager and leadership I have ever seen. I believe I am more effective staying at home and giving my best. This is all what transpired when I graduated last year. Fast forward one year, I am in a good and stable relationship now, and building a house for myself in the hills. Glad I stayed :)

I was kinda adamant in my early career that my taxes should go only for the benefit of my nation. I was patriotic. I still am (Not the social media RW nationalist keyboard warrior patriot). But somehow after a decade of toiling hard I have realised nothing really is going to change. The Governments cannot do anything until the people change. The problem is us! A massive mindset shift needs to happen, and I see that not happening in the near future. Given a chance I might move out for a few years. Want to experience better standards of living for the taxes we pay, and get back to India later maybe.

My low Gmat score

I am extremely introverted. Moving out and settling in another country involves communicating/engaging with a lot of unknown people and hence is too much of a hassle. All I just need is a room, high speed internet, xbox, a big ass TV and swiggy to survive and be happy. All of these are in India so I have the quality of life i need. Just get a job away from your hometown and one can avoid intrusive relatives too. I come from a family background with almost 0 money and now somehow spending money just induces guilt. I end up saving almost 75% of my salary and have quickly entered the top 1% networth club. I will soon have saved enough to even FIRE. My FIRE calculations say that I need to be in India to do that soon. Summing up, life is as good as it gets in India so no reason to leave.

Wanted to move abroad during college days, couldn't go due to lack of funds. Then luckily with some efforts I got good opportunities here and now don’t want to leave, as the quality of life is better here, mainly friends and family

Family!

I came back after 8yrs, many others also I know. In this (almost) a flat world, talent will keep moving from one place to another. In fact, even in pre-historic times humans kept moving. Brain drain or not is difficult to quantify, you need to figure out your priorities and define life accordingly.

Poverty

One and only one thing parents Apne log apne desh

Family.

I’m going for couple of years, but in a long run, I’ll have to come back obv. Do masters there, get a job. Understand the corporate, print money, come back, and join political party!

Multiple reasons over the years - 1. H1B could not be filed to USICS due to lack of funds. 2. L1 rejected because the consulate guy thought I will not return back to India 3. Client had limited visa sponsorship per year. 4. Not selected in lottery. Still waiting for all the 9 planets to align in one straight line 🤣🤣