Brain Drain of Research Talent in India

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India is facing a tremendous shortage of talent when it comes to technical Innovation especially talents in the fields of science, engineering and technology. The primary reason for this being Brain Drain.

When we say brain drain, the first thought that comes to our mind is of individuals migrating to developed countries like US and UK, in search of more lucrative jobs. This is true to a very large extent. However, this is not the only truth.

India is now facing a phenomenon which I would like to term as 'Internal Brain Drain'. Out of the 300,000 graduates coming out of educational institutions, only a handful of not more than 5000 actually go for higher studies and PhD. The loss of talent in this case for mainstream R&D activities is tremendous.

One also needs to take into account cases where many young engineers from non IT background are taking up jobs in BPOs and IT companies. It is estimated 78% of Indian engineers from mechanical, Electrical, Electronics, Civil, Instrumentation, Chemical and Biomedical engineering leave their field after graduation and work for BPOs and IT companies like Patni, TCS, Infosys etc.

Also due to the dismal state of R&D facilities provided by most of the educational institutions in India, many students even though interested in research, would prefer to take up jobs in multinationals, who provide a much better infrastructure and mentoring to individuals. The IPR (Intellectual Property Rights) thus generated is owned by these comapnies and the revenue generated from the products created get funnelled out to countries where these multinationals belong.

India not only needs to conserve its talent pool, but also needs to ensure that individual talents get utilised in a proper and efficient manner.