Diaspora Dividends

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: interacting with them difficult and expensive.”

The larger picture

While GOI experienced a demonstration affect from China’s grand success in drawing huge investment from the overseas Chinese, a lesson or two can also be learnt from Philippines, where the government has led from the front, playing a supportive and regulatory role in labour migrations. It made temporary labour migration a foreign policy priority in both bilateral and regional trade negotiations. The process begins with securing access to foreign labour markets, to pre-migration training on social and work conditions abroad, life insurance and pension plans, medical insurance and tuition assistance for the migrant and his family, eligibility for pre-departure and emergency loans and channelising the remittances. Training for returning migrants to invest their savings or starting new businesses is also a feature.

Though questions remain on how the government can better engage the resources in hand and take new initiatives to utilise the capabilities and strength of the diaspora so that India can leapfrog into the next generation, much remains to be achieved.

Abraham suggests there is a substantial gain in waiting on the technological front, “GOI should appoint a ‘Technology Tzar’ from the diaspora who would scout the world for new technologies and identify NRIs/PIOs who are top technologists and create interest and motivate them to come to India and establish technology outfits. GOI should also facilitate new technology/business incubators to facilitate such new ventures.” A view also shared by Ahuja, who cautions that India has probably been more successful in attracting portfolio investments than stickier project investments. India should now increase efforts to attract project investments especially in the critical infrastructure sectors.