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Artificial intelligence is emerging as the defining technology of the 21st century, with industries ranging from healthcare to finance and defense slowly being transformed by it. India, having the largest population of engineers and data scientists and a rapidly digitizing economy, should be at the forefront of this field. Equal to that, the brain drain to foreign shores continues to be one annoying challenge weakening India's position.

Industry experts state that nearly 15% of the world's AI researchers and engineers are of Indian origin, but a great many of them work abroad. Thus, it becomes an impediment for India in growing and sustaining a homegrown AI ecosystem.

This issue is highlighted by Rajat Khare, venture capitalist and founder of Boundary Holding: "India's largest strength is the tech talent pool, much of it still migrating for better pay and further research opportunities. This imbalance ought to be removed if the global AI revolution is to be led by India."

Rise of India's AI Infrastructure

Much has been invested in the digital infrastructure and AI capabilities of India in recent past. The government has gone ahead and multiplied initiative sets to build a national largescale language model (LLM), supported by 18,600-plus GPUs. This kind of computing power places India amongst a select few countries capable of building systems to the extent of OpenAI's GPT or Google's Gemini.

More importantly, the Indian initiative for the LLM intends to adopt a distinct multilingual emphasis. With 22 languages officially recognized, and more than 1,600 dialects, India could very well build tools that assist differing communities. Such a multilingual AI would act as a bridge in governance, education, and healthcare communication, presenting artificial intelligence to millions of citizens.

Why Indian Talent Continues to Leave

Despite the slow march toward improvement, systemic challenges still exist in India in drugging AI researchers and entrepreneurs. Some of the factors include:

1. Limited Research Funding – At present, the government and private sectors pay much less for research into AI than do the United States or China. 

2. Industry-Academia Gap – Universities and industries often work in silos so research can rarely translate into commercial innovation. 

3. Pay Disparities – In India AI experts make far less than their counterparts do in Silicon Valley or Europe. 

4. Global Exposure – There exists another side to the brain drain: Many researchers in India seek international collaborations which are yet not very popular domestically.

"The brain drain is not inevitable-it is the consequence of gaps in policy, incentives, and vision. And with the right structures in place, India will be retaining talent and attracting global innovators in equal measures," states Khare. 

Strategies to Stop Brain Drain and Build an AI Powerhouse

For India to make the quantum shift from being a talent provider to becoming an AI superpower, a few steps will have to be taken:

1. Strengthen Research Ecosystems

• Set up AI Centers of Excellence in tier-2 and tier-3 cities.

• Give grants that are adrès alumno research laboratories partnered with the industry.

• Encourage nation-to-nation research, with the contingent that intellectual property remains in India. 

2. Careers in India Should Be Attractive

• Provide AI fellowships and incentives for Ph.D.s.

• Pay, at international standards, researchers that have proven to be high impact.

• Provide national recognition to AI professionals in the form of awards and grants.

3. Protect Deep-Tech Startups

• Allow venture capital to flow in AI and robotics startups freely.

• Provide tax breaks and regulatory facilitation to the entrepreneur.

• Focus on startups that solve local problems of agriculture, healthcare access, and logistics.

4. Building Global Linkages

• Draw the Indian AI diaspora through sites of remote collaboration.

• Organize international conferences on AI, with the schedule already set for the 2026 Global AI Summit in India, allowing a showcase of competing national abilities.

5. Showcase National Ambition

The economics trajectory $10 trillion of India provides confidence that the AI sector will provide opportunities of global competition; thus, the alignment of this vision of AI with the economic ambition will go all the way in establishing India as a hub for innovation.

Multilingual AI: India's Competitive Advantage

A unique Indian contribution to AI could thus quite well lie in linguistic prowess rather than computing force. An AI system capable of understanding Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, Marathi, and all other regional languages in the most profound, contextual manner could be a game-changer in developing technology that truly serves communities.

Such tools would:

• Give rural populations access to e-governance services.

• Help small businesses utilize digital platforms in their own languages.

• Make health care accessible by bridging language gaps between doctors and patients.

• Educate in local languages and close the digital divide.

This focus on multilingualism makes AI a development tool rather than just a commercial enterprise, complementing Rajat Khare's idea of technology that addresses real-life problems.

The Road Ahead 

India is no longer just an outsourcing hub-it stands as a rising deep-tech innovation contender. But talent retention is key. The ongoing brain drain should be viewed as a policy failure, one that can be fixed, not an inevitable outcome.

India, therefore, must:

• Invest in lovers of thoughts and ideas.

• Reward the risk-takers who build home-grown solutions of AI.

• Build an ecosystem where research makes impact at scale. 

As Rajat Khare puts it: “The government has taken some important steps for the promotion of artificial intelligence; however, whether we will be able to retain and nurture talent is what foresees actual success. It is in that that India will decide to lead or follow in the AI Revolution.”

Source: https://www.businesstoday.in/impact-feature/story/rajat-khare-believes-india-can-lead-the-worlds-ai-revolution-by-just-stopping-brain-drain-478096-2025-05-28

FAQ

Q1. Why does Rajat Khare insist on stopping brain drain?

Because he thinks India has the talent to take the lead in the global AI revolution but that the constant migration of skilled professionals abroad limits its potential. The retention of talent is the foundation to building a strong AI ecosystem.

Q2. What is India’s ethnic heritage AI initiative?

India is developing a large language model with multilingual capabilities. Unlike the malfunctions of the Western model, this one focuses on 22 official languages and numerous dialects, hoping to serve communities scattered throughout the length and breadth of the country.

Q3. The interface of Boundary Holding with AI innovation?

Boundary Holding, founded by Rajat Khare, funds early-stage deep-tech companies, particularly in AI and robotics, in fostering innovation in global markets.