Netting The Expats

IT'S probably the first ever project undertaken to reverse the brain drain that has plagued India for decades. Called INSPIRE(Indian Students Professional Integration and Re-entry), the project aims to woo Indian students and young professionals in the United States back to India.

INSPIRE is to be launched by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in conjunction with the United States Educational Foundation in India (USEFI) by January '96, and will be implemented by the Corporate Citizenship Council (CCC) of the CII which deals with its educational, health, family and rural development projects.

CII plans to reach young professionals and the approximately 35,000 students studying in the US via Internet, expecting roughly 90 per cent of this number to access the message. Internet apart, CII also plans to get through to the target audience with a book to be published next summer. Messages on the Internet and the publication will give out information on career opportunities in India, and also discuss the socio-cultural aspects of setting up base here. Close to 40 Indian companies have already expressed interest in advertising career options for expats on the Net.

While CII expects over 10,000 Indians in the US to respond to their message on the Net, there are some who feel this figure is too optimistic. "The decision to come back to India is a personal one. I doubt if CII's hardsell about opportunities in India will be the clinching factor in most decisions. Besides, Indians in the US keep abreast with the economic scenario in India. Though CII can definitely package the information better," says Rajesh Bansal, a senior executive with a multinational bank in India who made the decision to come back from the US seven years back after completing his MBA from the University of Northern Iowa.

The idea for INSPIRE came from USEFI which has been conducting similar projects in ASEAN countries for the last few years. The MoU between CII and USEFI was signed on May 2 this year. "Thanks to the liberalisation policies of the Government, there are lots more opportunities in the country today. In fact, there is a great need for US-trained professionals in India. I am sure they would like to work in their country during this challenging period," says a CII spokesperson. And that's precisely the message they will be trying to get across in Project INSPIRE.

On its part, USEFI will help CII access information about Indian students in the US, and will also provide feedback by monitoring the response through questionnaires.

The INSPIRE publication will be made available in universities across the US and will also be available at USEFI centres in India for the 6,000 students who go to the US every year.

If this ambitious project succeeds in what it has set out to do, India could see many of its prodigal sons back on home turf.