Recruiters have seen a big spike in enquiries from Indian expats, including those at the CXO level, looking to relocate to India primarily from the US, UK and Canada over the last year, recruitment agency Randstad India told ET. However, Randstand did not quantify the size of the surge of Indian expat applicants.

The manufacturing industry is expected to double in size over the next five years from employing around 2.5 to 3 million people to around 5 million by around 2030, Yeshab Giri, Chief Commercial Officer, Operational Talent Solutions at Randstad India, told ET.

Government emphasis with big ticket incentives in addition to benefiting from the China plus one strategy has seen the electronics manufacturing sector in particular opening up more opportunities for these expats. The government boosters are seen aiding local manufacturing to get stronger

“People want to come back to India because there are more job opportunities for them here and the cost of living and income is better,” Giri said. “There’s also a tremendous focus on innovation and digital transformation which is why we see close to about 40,000 or so expatriate talent that’s there in the market looking at options with Indian employers.”

There was a time when Indians would move lock, stock and barrel to the United States primarily for greener pastures and to live the American dream. While this continues to happen, there’s also a big shift that is taking place. Today, with the big boom in electronics manufacturing and semiconductor work happening in the country, many executives are looking to move back to India for more than just the convenience and job opportunity.

One of them is Hareesh Chandrasekar, who left his job at Ohio State University to be a co-founder at the Gallium Nitride startup, Agnit Semiconductors.

“I moved back to India in 2020 with the intent of building something of my own,” he said. “I didn’t want to be a small fish in a big company, but was rather looking to build something meaningful and impactful from the ground up. I see a lot of others too mulling the move back to India too. In fact, we just hired two people who are coming back to India from Japan and the US to join our team.”

Similarly, Chitranjan Singh too moved back to India after spending about 22 years in the US and working in companies like Qualcomm and Leapfrog Semiconductor in San Diego. He moved to India to start his own semiconductor and wireless systems company Ananant Systems.
“I was extremely excited by all the work that was being done in the telecommunications space in India,” he said. “I knew that with my experience in design, I could add value to the efforts that were ongoing in the country. It is extremely fulfilling and satisfying to be part of a cause that has the potential to transform lives.”