Second generation Indian-Americans returning to India: study

Updated on: Tuesday, November 02, 2010

Decades ago their parents, mostly with eight dollars, came to US in search of greener pastures. Now, decades later, their children, US nationals, are going back to India in search of greener pastures, a study revealed.

Though, they are very less in number, return of second generation Indian Americans reflects a reversal of the trend that was apparent a few decades ago and also emergence of India as an world economic power where people from across the globe can aspire to have a better future for their job opportunities.

"A small but growing number of second-generation immigrants who are moving or considering moving to their parents' native countries for professional and personal reasons," said Sonali Jain of the Duke University, author of a study published by the Migration Policy Institute.

"Studies suggest that the emerging economies of the parents' homeland may encourage the children to make an economic investment there. In addition, many among them want to learn more about their parental homeland, ethnicity, and heritage," Jain said in the article published yesterday.

As part of the study, Jain conducted in-depth, semi- structured interviews with 48 second-generation Indian American professionals with US citizenship living in New Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad in India. Eight of the 48 'returnees' were entrepreneurs who had established their own companies of varying sizes.

"They found jobs in India using professional and school-based networks. Because they wanted to experience India as independent, unsupervised adults, respondents in general did not prefer to live in cities or towns where their extended family resided," the study said.

"All respondents asserted that the availability of exciting professional career pathways in India was an important factor in influencing their 'return' migration decisions," the study said.

Respondents observed that in India they worked in the middle to upper echelons of management. Many pointed out that they held positions that would have taken them five or more years to achieve in the US because such opportunities were simply unavailable to persons of their age and work experience, it added.

Another common assertion was that they found challenging opportunities in India because of the emergence of new industries, such as retail and media, and subsequent lack of skilled talent, Jain said.

Respondents explained their 'return' decisions by describing "pull" factors such as professional growth opportunities and the excitement of working in the emerging Indian economy.

Typical statements included, "There is nothing wrong with the US, I just wanted to experience India" and "I wanted to challenge myself professionally and develop myself personally."

Their desire to relocate to India was not due to "push" factors such as unemployment or a fear of job loss in the US; most had quit good jobs before moving to India.

"Thus, the economic rise of India was a necessary condition in facilitating 'return.' However, it was not a sufficient condition, as they 'returned' to India to explore their identity, culture, and heritage," said Jain.

Second generation Indian-Americans returning to India: study

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