(INDIA) A pointed LinkedIn post by tax consultant Madhav Pangarkar has refueled a national debate over India’s growing brain drain, with new 2024–2025 figures underscoring a steady outflow of top students and skilled professionals. His message, frustrated by the tug-of-war between reservation and merit, mirrors what many families see: India’s best and brightest, especially in engineering and medicine, are leaving for advanced study and jobs in the United States 🇺🇸, the United Kingdom, and Canada 🇨🇦.
Pangarkar cites an annual outflow of 60,000 to 75,000 engineers and doctors. The pipeline starts early: about 62% of top JEE Advanced and IIT rankers now choose higher education or work overseas, chasing labs, mentors, and pay packages they struggle to find at home. The broader student wave is stark too: nearly 1.2 million Indian students studied abroad in 2023, many in engineering, medicine, and IT.
According to analysis by VisaVerge.com, the trend has held through 2024 and into 2025, with families betting that global degrees open doors faster than domestic options.
The economic and demographic cost
The outflow carries a clear price:
- The United Nations Development Programme estimates $2 billion a year in losses from the IT sector alone due to brain drain, not counting medicine and science.
- India is set to lose 3,500 millionaires in 2025, taking an estimated $26.2 billion with them—continuing recent wealth migration patterns.
- Over 200,000 Indians gave up citizenship in 2024, a record that deepened public worry.
- At the same time, remittances reached $135.46 billion in FY25, covering about 47% of the trade gap.
- India’s Human Flight and Brain Drain Index stood at 4.8 (2024)—its lowest since 2007, but still reflecting persistent talent flight.
How families and students experience the squeeze
Families feel the consequences in concrete ways. In 2025, 22.09 lakh students registered for NEET UG while only about 1.8 lakh MBBS seats were available. That mismatch pushes even strong candidates to look abroad.
Similar issues recur in engineering and research:
- Students report outdated labs, patchy funding, and red tape that slow projects.
- Employers cite limited senior openings, pay compression, and long approval cycles that stall new ideas.
- Pangarkar’s post taps into a wider unease that reservation-based systems—intended to correct historical barriers—now sit in tension with a strong desire for merit-based progress among high performers.
Drivers behind the outflow
- Limited research capacity: Many engineering and medical colleges lack modern labs, funded projects, or clear paths from classroom to cutting-edge work. For a top JEE Advanced ranker, a funded robotics lab abroad can be the decisive pull.
- Bureaucratic hurdles and corruption: Slow permits, fragmented approvals, and uneven enforcement make early-career research and startups harder than they should be.
- Reservation and merit debates: A growing belief among some high achievers is that admissions and hiring do not always reward performance, feeding disillusionment.
- Tight education seats: The MBBS seat crunch shows how demand overwhelms supply, pushing students to seek training elsewhere even when they would prefer to study at home.
- Global pay and pathways: Universities and employers abroad bundle scholarships, clear tenure tracks, and startup grants—packages still rare across much of India.
For many families, the choice is practical rather than political. A top-thousand JEE Advanced student may see faster access to quantum labs or biotech incubators overseas, plus visa pathways that let research assistants transition into full-time roles. A young doctor facing long waitlists for residencies at home might accept a training spot abroad that offers standardized exams, structured supervision, and clear promotion steps.
Policy signals and proposed fixes
Officials and experts agree India needs better data and measurable outcomes. Currently, there is no centralized tracking of outbound students by program or destination, though a student migration portal and helpline have been discussed.
Proposals on the table include:
- Larger R&D funding and performance-based grants for universities.
- Targeted return incentives such as startup seed money, lab fellowships, and fast approvals for spinoffs.
- Reforms to admissions and hiring to protect inclusion while rewarding excellence.
As of August 2025, no major legal changes have been enacted.
Economic and social consequences flagged by analysts:
- Loss of experienced engineers and physicians reduces productivity and slows the creation of new intellectual property.
- Hospitals and research centers increasingly rely on imported equipment, foreign journals, and consulting contracts—additional costs that add up.
- The departure of classmates and mentors erodes morale and feeds a sense that success requires leaving.
Supporters of the current system point to positives:
- Remittances, global networks, and returning professionals bring money, skills, and prestige back to India.
- Diaspora founders and CTOs often partner with Indian teams and fund labs at home.
Most economists counter that while dollars and networks help, they do not replace the day-to-day work of scientists, surgeons, and engineers who would otherwise be building capacity in Indian institutions.
International context and practical advice
Visa rules in many Western countries have tightened since the pandemic, with some work routes now requiring stricter wage floors and documentation. That could slow the outflow at the margins. Yet demand for top performers—those with strong scores, published papers, or AI skills—remains high.
Practical steps for families and candidates:
- Check program funding carefully.
- Review post-study work rules.
- Verify recruiters and contracts.
- Keep copies of transcripts, offer letters, and agreements.
- Confirm any service fees up front.
For Indians taking up overseas jobs, the Ministry of External Affairs runs the eMigrate portal for registered recruitment and worker protection: https://emigrate.gov.in.
What it would take to reverse the trend
Policy choices are complex and resource-intensive:
- Expanding medical and engineering seats requires time and capital.
- Building competitive labs needs long-term funding and researcher independence.
- Reforming admissions and hiring while maintaining social goals calls for careful design and broad consensus.
Consequences of inaction:
- When senior scientists retire without successors, programs shut.
- When a hospital loses a cluster of specialists, patients travel farther and pay more.
- When a promising founder moves labs abroad, patents and jobs often follow.
If India wants to maintain a competitive edge by 2047, it must make staying home the smart choice for ambitious students and seasoned professionals. That implies:
- More funded PhD slots
- Merit-based promotions that are fair and transparent
- Research budgets that arrive on time
- Faster dispute resolution and stronger anti-corruption protections
- Clear career ladders in public institutions
Done well, these reforms can raise inclusivity rather than reduce it.
“Pangarkar’s warning has struck a chord because it matches lived experience. The trends are measurable, and the feelings are real.”
The key question now is whether India can convert today’s outflow into tomorrow’s circulation—where people go, learn, and come back because the labs are ready, the rules are clear, and the work of building the future happens here.
This Article in a Nutshell
India’s brain drain intensified in 2024–2025 as 60,000–75,000 engineers and doctors leave yearly. Top JEE rankers—62%—seek labs, pay, and mentorship abroad. Policymakers propose R&D funding, return incentives, and admission reforms, but no major legal changes occurred by August 2025. Families face seat shortages and uncertain domestic career paths.
