Swami: US returnees to India face disadvantages due to local leapfrogging
Sanjay Swamy · Reverse Brain Drain, Reality Of Venture Capital And India’s Next 10 Year Explained By Top Indian VCs · Jun 23, 2024 · at 10:10
Sanjay Swami, Managing Partner at Prime Venture Partners, discusses reverse brain drain and why returning US diaspora professionals struggle to adapt to India's advanced digital landscape.
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“Today, I think what people are realizing is they're actually out of touch with India and India is growing in a very, what worked in the US is not necessarily experience that will translate to India. Right? So they're coming to India now and they're actually, when we came, I would argue that we were kind of at an advantage because we had seen what had happened in the internet there and it had not yet happened in India. But now the public goods, the digital public infrastructure, everything in India has leapfrogged what is there in the West and people coming in have a readjustment to make. And, you know, the expertise around data science and AI and stuff like that. India is on par if not ahead in many games, right? So I think for people coming back, they, you know, they really have to think about, you know, can they actually quickly adapt back and, you know, and actually bring some unique skills into this market. So that's my view. It might seem controversial, but I actually think people who have gone are going to be disadvantaged coming back.”
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