Indian Human Resources Mobility: Brain drain versus brain gain

Abstract

India is a major source of migrants, especially of highly-skilled and well-trained workers. This paper attempts to show that even with a high number of Indian talents abroad, India – as well as destination countries – takes advantage of the resources generated by this population. Traditionally the flows of Indian professionals have been directed towards the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and other similar destinations. Recently, however, Western European countries are being selected as migration options. In this paper, the growing diversification of receiving countries is explained as a consequence of European immigration policies focusing on highly-skilled migrants, demographic trends which raise several questions related to labour shortages and, finally, the effects of the global economic crisis on mobility. The migration of highly-skilled Indians is analyzed and put in the context of globalization and the intensification of the knowledge-based economy. The paper shows that what has happened in India might stand as a win-win scenario with wider application where a brain drain may be converted into a brain gain.