Journalism of Courage
Elon Musk said the United States has gained greatly from skilled Indians who have moved there over the years. Speaking on Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath’s “WTF is” podcast, released on Sunday, Musk said Indian engineers, scientists and entrepreneurs have played an important part in the country’s technology and business growth.
Kamath began the discussion by saying that the US had always attracted “really smart people” from around the world, leading many in India to describe it as a “brain drain.” He pointed to the high number of Indian-origin CEOs running major global companies.
Musk agreed, saying Indian workers had strengthened the American tech industry. “Yes, I think America has benefitted immensely from talented Indians that have come to America,” he said.
Musk responded to concerns in the US that foreign workers take away local jobs. “I don’t know how real that is,” he said. “My direct observation is that there’s always a scarcity of talented people. We have a lot of difficulty finding enough talented people to get difficult tasks done, and so more talented people would be good.”
He added that his companies — Tesla, SpaceX, X and xAI — focus on finding “the most talented people in the world.”
Musk also spoke about criticism of the H-1B visa programme, which allows US companies to hire skilled foreign workers.
“I think there’s been some misuse of the H-1B programme,” he said, referring to outsourcing firms. “Some companies have gamed the system on the H-1B front, and we need to stop the gaming of the system.”
But Musk said he did not support shutting the programme down. “I’m certainly not in the school of thought that we should shut down the H-1B programme. I think they don’t realise that would actually be very bad,” he said.
The H-1B visa has, for decades, allowed young workers from India, China and elsewhere to take specialised jobs in the US, often after years of study. India remains the single largest beneficiary of the programme.
Recent US policies, however, have raised concerns. US President Trump announced a sharp rise in H-1B application fees and spoke of widespread misuse. At the same time, he said he would “welcome” skilled workers who can help the US build complex technologies such as microchips and missiles.
In the podcast, Musk also spoke about the need for clear border rules. He criticised what he said were weak controls under the Biden administration. “It was basically a free-for-all with no real border controls,” he said. “Unless you have proper border checks, you’re not a country.”
Musk argued that the situation led to high levels of illegal immigration and created the wrong incentives.
“If people are offered big financial reasons to come to the US illegally and still receive government benefits, then of course many will try,” he said. “It’s an incentive system, and it made no sense. You need to have border controls it’s unreasonable not to.”
