Are Indians 'voting with their feet?' Skilled labour emigration grows, but no one's crying 'brain drain'

Not so long ago, the term 'brain drain' referred to the loss of skilled manpower from developing nations like India to foreign countries such as the US. Today, comparable levels of emigration are taking place from India to a larger number of nations. But the term 'brain drain' is not heard as much as it was in the past, in media or academic circles. The migration of skilled labour, such as software engineers and doctors, could be considered a kind of export. Celebrating the material success of the Indian diaspora is one way of looking at this. But it belies a potential crisis and raises the question: Is India unable to retain its talent within the country?

India has the world's largest emigrant population

Recently, economist and former Prime Minister of the Kyrgyz Republic Djoomart Otorbaev wrote that India is not merely exporting software, pharmaceuticals, and services. It is exporting something consequential: human beings. While China became the world's workshop, India is increasingly becoming the world's labour pool. That observation is accurate, going by global as well as Indian government data. The number of India-born people living abroad was estimated at 18.5 million in 2024 by the United Nations, which is roughly 6 per cent of all international migrants. It is a near-tripling from 6.5 million in 1990.

India's Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) data shows a much bigger number of 34.36 million as of January 2025, which includes 17.18 million Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs) and 17.18 million Non-Resident Indians (NRIs). Of this total, the US hosts 5.69 million, the UAE 3.90 million and Canada 3.61 million. These are mission-compiled estimates, and the totals have varied between various parliamentary replies.

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Voting with their feet: The number of Indians giving up their citizenship is growing

In migration studies, the term 'voting with their feet' refers to people leaving their home country for better opportunities, driven by 'push and pull' factors — relatively poor conditions at home and better living standards, opportunities and attractive currency exchange rates abroad. One of the clearest signs of this is a permanent exit: the renunciation of citizenship. India does not allow dual nationality, though people of Indian origin can apply for an Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card, which provides certain rights but is not equivalent to Indian citizenship. Between 2011 and 2024, according to MEA data, 2.09 million Indians gave up their citizenship.

When taken annually, these renunciations ranged between 121,000 and 144,000 in the 2011- 2019 period. Then came a sudden jump to 225,620 in 2022, followed by 216,219 in 2023 and 206,378 in 2024. Nearly 900,000 people left the citizenship rolls in the five years to 2024 alone.

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Rich nations are taking the cream of the crop from India

Much of this migration is a combination of the pre-selection of the best talent by foreign firms and nations, something Otorbaev referred to as 'filtering the pool', and the self-selection of destination countries by migrants themselves. In spite of growing rhetoric against Indian migration to the US, Indian-born workers received 283,400 of 399,400 approved US H-1B petitions, which is 71 per cent of the total pool, in 2024-25. For the US, as well as several other countries, India was the leading source of international students, with more than 363,000 enrolled in the US in 2024-25 alone, according to Migration Policy Institute data. Many of them go on to find jobs in the nations where they studied.

This migration is increasingly including Europe, Scandinavia and Oceania, besides traditional destinations such as the US, UK and Canada. The other stream is lower- and mid-skilled workers who move towards the Gulf, where taking citizenship is not possible in most cases. Government data showed that the UAE and the US each hosted 17 per cent of India's emigrants in 2024, while Gulf countries accounted for around half of all Indian migrants.

The good side: India's rise to the top of remittance-receiving nations helps its foreign currency reserves

India has been the world's largest remittance recipient since 2008, with remittances standing at around $137.7 billion in 2024. This is more than double the amount flowing to the next-ranked country, Mexico, which received around $67 billion, much of it from 'near-far' migration into the US.

Indian remittances are around 3.5 per cent of its GDP and have been growing at nearly 14 per cent annually in the last few years. These inflows add to India's foreign currency reserves, helping it pay bills and balance its currency during difficult periods such as the current conflict in West Asia.

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What the migration reveals: The job situation for youth in India

The story of migration cannot be read without considering the 'push factor': a lack of employment opportunities for skilled labour in India for young and able-bodied workforce, and the anticipation of unemployment at the student stage itself for many individuals. As a result, many are planning their studies abroad, often taking bank loans, with the intention of finding a job in the destination countries and possibly settling there.

The lack of enough productive jobs for available labour in the country

Youth unemployment, for those aged between 15 and 29, is estimated to be nearly 10 per cent, and that is problematic for a nation with the 'demographic dividend' of a young, employable population.

The data is worse for urban youth, where unemployment is averaging around 13 per cent.

This essentially means India is at a crossroads when it comes to balancing unemployment and emigration. The benefits of India's education system — much of it subsidised by the government — are not being transferred back to the nation due to permanent or long-term emigration. This is the classic ‘brain drain’ problem.

In short, richer economies take advantage of the benefits of Indians' relatively cheaper education. This is starting to look very much like the 'brain drain' of the 1980s and 1990s. But the counterargument is the benefits of remittances.

The world, as Otorbaev put it, is competing for Indian talent. But can India compete to keep its own talent at home?. Ultimately, it is about the cost-benefit analysis of retaining skilled workforce at home versus getting their inward remittances from abroad. And the balance might tilt.