Brain-drain from India is serious — Mahajan

The growing skills’ divide in India’s work-force has serious social consequences, he said.

“At the most, 100 million Indians, or one-tenth of the population, stand to benefit from the technology revolution in the short term. However, for many Indians accustomed to economic hardship, that in itself is a welcome step towards greater national prosperity,” he said.

The greatest risk to India’s future is that the brains continue to go offshore, said Anil Bhalla, who heads Chase Manhattan Corp’s banking operations in Mumbai.

“For years, many ambitious Indian professionals went to the West to build careers. Those who stayed home got only a fraction of what their compatriots earned in the world’s financial and technology centres,” the paper said.

Now, soaring local salaries reflect a growing shortage of skilled workers at home, just as Indian companies are emerging as global players in the new economy. Business executives now worry that to sustain India’s booming young software industry, the country must retain more of its high-tech whizkids and lure back tens of thousands of talented expatriates, the paper said.