Should NRI’s Ditch Their Job to Startup in India? Read This Before You Book Your Flight

“I will move to India and found a startup. I wish I could explore a business in the US but my visa won’t allow it,” Mitra (name changed) tells me.

This 33-year-old immigrant Indian software engineer in San Francisco doesn’t even look at his bank balance when $14,553 gets credited in his bank account every month. He’s happy with his pay but not his job. “I feel I need to do more engaging work. Or work with my hands,” he says. This explains why Mitra has been tracking the Indian startup market for the past four years. “India is booming right now!” he gushes.

In his mind, starting up in India is a happier alternative to the monotony and constraints of his life as an immigrant. Mitra is not alone.

The startup wind from India has reached NRIs (non-resident Indians), who see the success of Indians in startups and wish to savour the joyous taste of job fulfilment.

Unfortunately, thousands of NRIs are on restrictive visas; so, they take up (and stay) in jobs they may not enjoy. I am an example. Post my MS, I took up a job at a small software firm, writing test cases, right after a degree in a completely unrelated field — industrial engineering.