India Emerging as the Preferred Career Destination for IITians

Introduction

Many Indian families will not experience the same struggles as the Ganguli family depicted in the famed book and
movie, “The Namesake”, as it seems most fresh college graduates in India now prefer not to leave India. It is well
known that graduates from the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITians) have historically preferred to move to the
United States or other countries to pursue higher studies and explore more attractive career opportunities. However,
preferences have changed during the last few years according to a recent survey of 677 IITians by Evalueserve – a
global research and analytics’ firm. Among IITians who graduated during 1964 and 2001, 35% moved to countries
other than India, while 65% remained. However, among IITians who graduated in 2002 and later (including the
graduating class of 2008), only 16% moved while 84% remained in India. Recent graduates also believe that India
will be the most promising geography for IIT graduates in 10 years.

Changing Geographical Preferences Among IITians

Among IITians who graduated prior to 2002, approximately 60% of the respondents viewed the developed countries
as the destination with the best career opportunities. However, among those who graduated in 2002 or after, this
trend has been reversed with 51% respondents now considering India to be the preferred career location. As many
as 90% of all graduating IITians have chosen to remain in India in 2006.

• The point of “inflexion” with respect to this change seems to have occurred with the graduating class of 2002 and likely correlates to the growth of India’s economy, which (since 2002) has recently been 8% – 9% per year in real terms and of 14% – 15% in nominal terms.
• When compared to the United States, 30% of IITians who graduated during 1964 and 2001 moved to the United States whereas only 9% did so – or will do so – during 2002 and 2008. However, in both cases, among those who moved – or will move – approximately 68% did so to pursue higher studies, whereas 17% of the
  respondents considered the United States as an attractive destination in terms of employment opportunities.
• The drop in the number of IITians who believed the US offered a “better standard of living” has been remarkable, from 13% to almost zero.

• A substantial percentage of IITians who wanted to move to the US, actually did not make the move. For example, 35% of recent graduates from 2002-2007 who wanted to move to the United States eventually did not, a number considerably higher than the corresponding group from the 1964-2001 graduating classes. Some reasons cited by the respondents included stringent visa regulations following the 9/11 terrorist attack, the high cost of living, limited scholarships, and high tuition fees and the perception of reduced employment opportunities and a poorer life in the US.
• Many IITians have also becoming increasingly disillusioned with the overall quality of life in the United States,
  with 12% of the respondents who graduated before 2002 and less than 1% among those who graduated after
  2001 perceiving the United States to be a better “quality of life” destination.
• As shown in Figure 4, among IITians who graduated during 1964 and 2001, 59% believed that at the time of
  graduation the United States and other developed countries provided better opportunities, whereas only 41%
  believed that India did. However, among IITians who graduated during 2002 and 2008 (i.e., including the class
  that will graduate in June 2008), only 51% believed that developed countries would provide them better
  opportunities whereas 49% believed that India would.

• As shown in Figure 5, those who chose to stay in India have cited the following reasons for their decision: (a)
  33% wanted to be closer to their homes, culture, and family, (b) a limited number of significantly attractive job
  offers overseas (only 17% of the respondents who graduated before 2002 perceived that there were limited job
  opportunities in the United States as compared to 28% who among those who graduated after 2001), (c)
  substantial increase in job opportunities and improved standard of living in India (19%), and (d) significant
  entrepreneurial opportunities in India (5% of the respondents who graduated before 2002 preferred India due to entrepreneurial opportunities as compared to 11% among those who graduated during 2002 and 2008). Finally, IITians continue to give a low score to India with respect to educational opportunities (2%).

• A somewhat stronger inclination to contribute towards India’s development is demonstrated in a shift between
  pre-2002 and post-2001 graduating classes. While not a specific response option during the survey, a number of strong educational foundation provided by renowned institutions such as the IITs gives them an edge over others to bring about those changes.
• Most strikingly, when asked, “10 years down the line, which geography do you think will hold the most promise
  for success?” 72% chose India, with only 17% opting for the US, 5% for Europe and 2% for China.
• IITians who graduated between 1964 and 2001 have shown a tendency to start their own entrepreneurial
  ventures. As many as 25% of the respondents in the pre-2002 graduating classes claimed to have founded new
  ventures. Understandably, the number of entrepreneurs from recent classes is low.
• With respect to the selection of geography for their new ventures, most IITians have chosen India (65%) over the US (29%). Surprisingly, of the start-ups in the US, 97% have been founded by those who graduated in the year 2001 or before; whereas, 28% of the start-ups in India have been founded by graduates of 2002 and later. This demonstrates an increasing interest of recent graduates to invest in new ventures in India rather than abroad.

Profile of Survey Respondents

Figure 9 provides the break-up for 677 respondents according to the country they currently live in. From a statistical
perspective, since the total number of IIT alumni graduating since the inception of IITs in early 1960s is
approximately 130,000, Evalueserve’s results should be used simply as a trend analysis with a margin of error of +/-
2% at a confidence level of 90%. It would be worthwhile conducting further research in this area with a substantially
larger set of IIT alumni.

Note: The number of respondents was surveyed to correlate with the approximate number of IITians living in these
countries.