Better job options & family trigger NRGs’ 'Swades' surge

Satyam Patel is one of the hundreds of non-resident Gujaratis (NRGs) who have returned to India for good after living abroad for many years.

The 38-year-old software engineer from New Jersey who is currently in Ahmedabad is busy trying to get his children admitted to a good school, looking for a domestic help and attending to other details of setting up house in the city.

Most Gujarati migrants who have returned to India decided to shift base after the global economy went into a downturn. Growing economic pressure and a difficult job market abroad has made India the better place for work and reside in.

Unemployment in the US is at 9.7% and is expected to touch 10.3% early next year. Also the US GDP is forecast to drop by 2.6% this fiscal.

“Of late, the number of Gujarati migrants returning to India has increased,” said Krishnakant Vakharia, president of Vishwa Gujarati Samaj. “They are encouraged by the example of Indians who have returned from the US and have set up highly successful IT firms in India, or have become senior managers in companies here.” 

Further, entrepreneurs with companies in Silicon Valley prefer to hire returning Indian migrants for their business dealings in India. “Migrants serve as good intermediaries between local and international markets,” Vakharia said.

Malti Mehta, president of the Association of British Scholars, (ABS) Ahmedabad, confirmed that a growing number of Indians was returning home from the US, UK and Australia.

“In many cases, Indians who have lived abroad for the last 10-15 years, have decided to return,” she said.

While some are coming home for better job opportunities, others have decided to return for the sake of their children. They believe that their children will have a more sheltered life in India. Pankaj, 36, and Hina Patel, 32, both highly skilled IT professionals who used to work in Chicago, recently came back with their two teenage daughters.

“It’s not only for better work opportunities that we have come back,” Pankaj said. “Indian values and family ties were equally powerful attractions. Our decision affected many others, so much so that 10 Gujaratis with US citizenship have also decided to return.”