NRIs: Why They are Coming
Back to India

chillibreeze writer — Vimlaksh Gautam

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NRIs or Non-Resident Indians form a prominent component of the world demography wherever they reside and work, be it U.S., Europe, Middle East, Caribbean or any other region. And why not? After all, they have contributed immensely to the economy of these countries and regions through their considerable expertise and entrepreneurial zeal. In fact, they correspond to nearly ten percent of the Indian population today, which is a very significant size. However due to some internal and external causes many NRIs are coming back to the country of their origin and certain pull and push factors are involved in the return of NRIs and People of Indian Origin (PIO) to India. These need to be analyzed in detail.

Pull Factors

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Among the various internal causes, the rapid stride that India is making in economy, education, and technology is the chief cause for pulling a number of NRIs back to India. Today, India boasts of more than 12 IITs and IIMs combined and even original research is getting a big boost in India, particularly in the field of technology and health. With a consistent 8 percent-plus GDP growth rate India today offers highly skilled jobs and exciting investment opportunities to the NRIs who are wary of the unstable US and European economy that are facing the worst economic crisis in the past 80 years. Indian laws that were infamously cumbersome and full of red-tape are being steadily streamlined and simplified, thus obtaining property in India or starting a business is much easier than before.

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Push Factors

However the above causes cannot be seen in isolation to the world events in the last three years or so. Major economies like U.S. and EU are facing miserable economic times and jobs are dwindling faster than ever before and livelihood security is threatened. Even Dubai, the showpiece of the Arab world and where millions of NRIs live, is facing a meltdown in its much vaunted construction industry. Also the xenophobic racial attacks in Australia and other countries have made them unsafe for living. Compare this with India which was relatively less affected by the global economic turmoil and where the economy has shown remarkable resilience, it’s not too difficult to understand the sudden ‘homesickness’ felt by the NRIs.

The Implications

Although the NRIs have only started trickling back home it could soon turn into a flood. So what are the implications of their return? Firstly, it augurs well for talent augmentation in India. From being a feeder of bright talent to the developed world, India will be able to harness its home grown talent for self-use. Considering there will be acute shortage of engineers and doctors in the next ten years, India needs as much skilled manpower as possible and the homecoming of the NRIs will fill the need to some extent. Also the country will benefit from the superior skill and experience, not to mention professionalism, which the NRIs will bring along. Also expect a spurt in venture capitalism as the NRIs are relatively more forthcoming when it comes to promoting great ideas.

On the flipside, the remittances will fall considerably and remittances by NRIs have been a major source of forex resource for the country. Also India’s voice in the western world could weaken due to the return of the NRIs who are a very vocal community in the US and other countries.

But in spite of these pitfalls the NRIs couldn’t have chosen a better time to return home. With a booming economy and the world’s biggest emerging market, India offers exciting investment opportunities and the NRIs seem to have realized this better than others.

 

Chillibreeze's disclaimer: This is a contributed article and was published on Chillibreeze in February, 2010. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not reflect the views of Chillibreeze as a company. Chillibreeze has a strict anti-plagiarism policy. Please contact us to report any copyright issues related to this article. The relevance of the facts and figures cited (if any) could change after a period of time.

 

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—About our writer: Vimlaksh writes for chillibreeze.

 

 

 

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