The Indian Brainpower Boom: How Indian Students Drive Global Economies and Innovation

It is widely known that India’s prowess and presence in the global community are highly marked by its structural and soft power characterized by its robust economy, consistent growth, safe investment destination, and highly valued culturally endowed artifacts and heritage. However, one factor that is often taken for granted or doesn’t get explicit attention (but only a tacit appreciation) is India’s enormous brainpower and Indian human capital’s significant presence across sectors of the global economy. This presence is not just economically remunerating, its monumentous cerebral capacity is also highly formidable and contributory to global leadership and innovation.

The Indians or people of Indian origin are not just holding positions in high places in top multinational companies like Microsoft, Google, and Chanel, among others, but also, with its remarkable presence in the international education system, has made significant strides in expanding the global economy and knowledge base. As per a report, India is the largest source of international students in the United States, with around 300 thousand in 2023-24. However, the Indian contribution to the global economy is not only limited to disposable income and financial contribution to other economies; it is also through the innovation and R&D being carried out by them. Across the fields , whether it is FMCG, automobiles, tech, etc., the top leaders are of the view that India is the hub of brain power, given its technical pool, and are keen to make the most use of it. India’s education system and Indian professionals have always been held in high esteem in the West, particularly in the UK, the US, Singapore, and Germany, among others, as Indian youth have made significant contributions to productivity, innovation and finding technological solutions to complex problems.

It is important to note that Indian brainpower is proving its mettle not just abroad but also getting immense potential in their home ground as well. One such example is that of GCCs. With the emergence of the phenomenon, what experts call Outsourcing 2.0, India has evolved from a mass exporter of tertiary skills (mostly back-office jobs like telemarketing, etc.) to highly skill-oriented quaternary and quinary services. India is emerging into a Global Capability Center (GCC) hub, an integrated hub established in talent-rich locations to build significant value and intellectual property (IP) using collaborative and distributed teams. These are mostly established by Western companies in India to harness the highly specialized, skilled, and talented Indian human resources for operationalizing innovation while mitigating massive risks in the stable macroeconomic and geo-political stability that India provides.

The GCCs have now focused on deeper ties in terms of business functions, escalating up in the value chain to deliver higher-value processes using India’s brainpower capabilities. As per the recent estimates by NASSCOM, the trade association of the Indian IT industry, over 1,580 GCCs in India have installed a talent base of over 1.66 million, expecting to reach 1,900 by this year.

The rising demand for Indian talent has been taken care of, ensuring the supply of highly skilled and specialized human resources. The major credit goes to how the Indian government has timely oriented itself to cater to the dynamic needs of the market, domestic or international. Eminent educational institutions are focusing on developing skills in STEM fields, particularly AI and green technologies, to meet the global demand for green tech and AI ecosystem.

Given the importance of India’s brainpower contribution, not just through research and innovation but also financially, leaders of India and the US have also resolved to strengthen collaborations between the higher education institutions through efforts through joint/dual degree and twinning programs and establishing joint Centers of Excellence. They have also sought to establish offshore campuses of the USA’s premier educational institutions of the US in India.

More than a decade back, the then Union Minister of India, K Venkatapathy, commented how India has passed its phase of “the Hindu rate of growth” and rather has become a net exporter of best minds to the global economy, and how the future world will run on Indian brainpower . In essence, we are seeing this coming true now. However, the discourse on developing countries’ brainpower is often eclipsed by the concerns on human capital flight (or brain drain). In this context, it is important to provide a newer lens to the perceived concern.

The current phenomenon is dynamic and not necessarily an economic loss as is often considered. It is dynamic, as Indians are contributing to the global economy and innovation through either studying and working abroad or outsourcing, as in the case of GCCs. As evident in the Indian case, apart from the obvious economic benefits in terms of remittance earnings, the engagement and exchange with the international community have given it more avenues and capability to contribute to the global economy and gain a significant amount of respect and admiration of the international community. The growing acceptance rate for Indian students in international universities and their stellar performance is a clear sign of growing desirability and how their effective contributions in the space of innovation and economic growth.