Abstract
This paper assesses the mutual impact of returning Indian-origin skilled workers on the cities of Bangalore (Bengaluru) and Hyderabad, which have emerged as India’s leading “tech cities”. During the 1970s and 1980s, there was concern that India was losing its educated workforce to the West, particularly to the United States through a phenomenon known as “brain drain”. More recently, there is evidence that reverse brain drain is occurring, as U.S.-trained Indian professionals are returning to their home country in increasing numbers to take advantage of new growth and employment opportunities. The effects of this skilled, transnationally active labor force on various sectors of the economy, on the social and physical infrastructure of Bangalore and Hyderabad and in forging and solidifying transnational linkages between India and the United States are explored in this paper. This study also investigates the reasons why successful US professionals of Asian-Indian origin are returning to their home country via a series of personal interviews. The paper offers Bangalore and Hyderabad as “worldwide leading cities” with a niche status in the global Information Technology (IT) sector.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Baldwin-Edwards, M. (2006). Between a rock and a hard place: North Africa as a region of emigration, immigration and transit migration. Review of African Political Economy, 33, 311–324.
Bathelt, H., Malmberg, A., & Maskell, P. (2004). Clusters and knowledge: Local buzz, global pipelines and the process of knowledge creation. Progress in Human Geography, 28(1), 31–56.
Beaverstock, J. V. (2005). Transnational elites in the city: British highly-skilled inter-company transferees in New York’s Financial District. Journal of Ethnic & Migration Studies, 31, 245–268.
Beaverstock, J. V., & Smith, J. (1996). Lending jobs to global cities: Skilled international labour migration, investment banking and the City of London. Urban Studies, 33, 1377–1394.
Behrman, J. N., & Rondinelli, D. A. (2002). The cultural imperatives of globalization: Urban economic growth in the 21st century. Economic Development Quarterly, 6, 115–125.
Bodnar, J. E. (1985). The transplanted: A history of immigrants in urban America. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Breathnach, P. (2000). Globalisation, information technology and the emergence of niche transnational cities: The growth of the call centre sector in Dublin. Geoforum, 31(4), 477–485.
Castles, S, & Miller, M. J. (2003). The age of migration: International population movements in the modern world. New York: Macmillan.
Castells, M. (1989). The informational city: Information technology, economic restructuring and the urban-regional process. Oxford: Blackwell.
Census of India. (2001). http://www.censusindia.gov.in/census_online/Population/List_of_Million_Plus_Cities.aspx.
Cheshire, P. C., & Magrini, S. (2006). Population growth in European cities: Weather matters but only nationally. Regional Studies, 40, 23–37.
Florida, R. (2003). Cities and the creative class. City & Community, 2(1), 3–19.
Friedman, J. (1986). The world city hypothesis. Development and Change, 17, 69–83.
Friedman, J. (1995). Where we stand: A decade of world city research. In P. L. Knox & P. J Taylor (Eds.), World cities in a world system. (pp. 21–47). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Glick Schiller, N., Basch, L, & Szanton Blanc, C. (1995). From immigrant to transmigrant: Theorizing transnational migration. Anthropological Quarterly, 68, 48–63.
Government of India. (2006). http://www.stpp.soft.net/# (Official Web site of the Ministry of Communication & Information Technology, Government of India). Last accessed on October 12, 2006.
Government of Karnataka. (2006). http://www.bangaloreit.com (Official website of the Department of IT and biotechnology, Government of Karnataka). Last accessed on August 27, 2006.
Hazen, H. D., & Alberts, H. C. (2006). Visitors or immigrants? International students in the United States. Population, Space and Place, 12, 201–216.
Heitzman, J. (2004). Network city: Planning and information society in Bangalore. New Delhi, India: Oxford University Press.
Hospers, G. (2003). Creative cities: Breeding places in the knowledge economy. Knowledge, Technology & Policy, 16(3), 143–162.
Indo-Asian News Service. (2005). NRI group plans biggest FDI in Indian real estate. September 29, 2005.
Iype, G. (2004). Hyderabad: India’s Genome Valley. http://us.rediff.com/money/2004/nov/30spec.htm. Accessed on August 20, 2006.
Kabra, H. (2005). India’s IT prodigals return home. BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/south_asia/4447833.stm. April 29, 2005. Accessed on August 18, 2006.
Kapur, D. (2002). The causes and consequences of India’s IT boom. India Review, 1–2, 91–110.
Morning, A. (2001). South Asia. In J. Ciment (Ed.), Encyclopedia of American immigration. (Vol. 4). (pp. 1207–1214) Armonk, NY: Sharpe Reference.
Nair, J. (2005). The promise of the metropolis: Bangalore’s twentieth century. New Delhi, India: Oxford University Press.
Nasscom-McKinsey Report. (2005). Extending India’s leadership in the global IT and BPO industries. (http://www.nasscom.org).
Panagariya, A. (2001). The Indian Diaspora in the United States. Economic Times, May 23, 2001.
Patterson, R. (2006). Transnationalism: Diaspora-homeland development. Social Forces, 84, 1891–1907.
Portes, A., Haller, W. J., & Guarnizo L. E. (2002). Transnational entrepreneurs: An alternative form of immigrant economic adaptation. American Sociological Review, 67, 278–298.
Ramachandraiah, C., & Bawa, V. K. (2000). Hyderabad in the changing political economy. Journal of Contemporary Asia, 30(4), 562–574.
Ryan, O. (2005). India’s top export: Headed back home? Fortune, 151, 12.
Sassen S. (1994) Cities in a world economy. Thousand Oaks, CA: Fine Forge Press.
Saxenian, A. (2005). From brain drain to brain circulation: transnational communities and regional upgrading in India and China. Studies in Comparative International Development, 40, 35–61.
Sheshabalaya, A. (2005). Enduring an IT eclipse. YaleGlobal. August 30. Yale Center for the Study of Globalization. http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/display.article?id=6209. Last accessed on August 28, 2006.
Taylor, P. J. (2004). World city Network: A global urban analysis. London: Routledge.
Taylor, P. J. (2005). Leading world cities: Empirical evaluations of urban nodes in multiple networks. Urban Studies, 42, 1593–1608.
U.S. Department of Homeland Security. (2006). Report of the Visa Office, 2005. http://travel.state.gov/pdf/FY05tableIII.pdf. Accessed August 28, 2006.
USCIS (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services). (2006). Annual flow report: U.S. legal permanent residents, 2005. http://www.uscis.gov/graphics/shared/statistics/publications/USLegalPermEst_5.pdf Last accessed on August 27, 2006.
USEFI (United States Educational Foundation in India). (2006). http://www.fulbright-india.org/eas/eas-general.htm. Last accessed on August 28, 2006.
Wyman, M. (1993). Round trip to America: The immigrants return to Europe, 1880–1930. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
Yeoh, B., & Chang, T. C. (2001). Globalising Singapore: Debating transnational flows in the city. Urban Studies, 38, 1025–1044.
Yusuf, S., & Wu, W. (2002). Pathways to a World City: Shanghai rising in an era of globalization. Urban Studies, 39, 1213–1240.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Chacko, E. From brain drain to brain gain: reverse migration to Bangalore and Hyderabad, India’s globalizing high tech cities. GeoJournal 68, 131–140 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-007-9078-8
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-007-9078-8