Why are Indians Leaving India ? | The Truth Behind Mass Migration

Summary

The script discusses the mass exodus of Indians seeking better opportunities abroad, with a focus on the middle class's struggle. It highlights issues like the low percentage of tax-paying citizens, the informal economy, toxic work culture, corruption, and the challenges of obtaining foreign citizenship. It also touches on the implications of this migration on the economy and the need for government intervention to improve living standards and work conditions.

Takeaways

• 🌍 A large number of Indians are migrating to OECD countries, with Indians topping the list of foreign nationals acquiring Canadian citizenship.
• 🚷 About 97,000 Indians were caught attempting to enter the US illegally, highlighting the issue of illegal immigration from India.
• 📊 In a span of 2.5 years, 2.8 million Indians went abroad on work visas, and 13 lakh Indian students are studying in 70 different countries, indicating a significant exodus for better opportunities.
• 💼 India is expected to lose 6,500 high net worth individuals in 2023 alone, suggesting that even the wealthy are seeking opportunities elsewhere.
• 💔 Less than 2% of India's population pays income tax, indicating a large informal economy and a lack of contribution to government revenue by a significant portion of the population.
• 🏢 The middle class in India feels neglected due to high tax contributions without receiving adequate benefits or public services in return.
• 🌾 Agricultural workers, including wealthy individuals, often avoid income tax through loopholes, contributing to the tax burden on the middle class.
• 🤯 High net worth individuals are leaving the country, which increases the tax rate for those who remain, further straining the middle class.
• 💼 Toxic work culture, long working hours, and lack of work-life balance in the corporate sector are pushing Indians to seek better working conditions abroad.
• 💰 Stagnant wages for corporate employees, especially fresh graduates, fail to keep up with inflation, leading to dissatisfaction and a desire to work abroad.
• 🚫 Corruption is deeply ingrained in daily life in India, affecting everything from real estate to education, and causing frustration among citizens.
• 🗺 India's low global passport ranking and issues with illegal immigration make it difficult for Indians to travel or migrate legally to developed countries.
• 🏙️ Poor air quality, inadequate infrastructure, and a widening wealth gap are further reasons why many Indians are choosing to leave for a better quality of life.

Q & A

Why are millions of Indians fleeing the country?

The script suggests that various factors such as the desire for a better quality of life, toxic work culture, corruption, and a lack of government benefits despite high tax contributions are driving Indians to migrate to other countries.

How many foreign nationals migrated to an OECD country in the past year?

The script mentions that 2.8 million foreign nationals migrated to an OECD country in the past year.

Which nationality topped the list of foreign nationals acquiring Canadian citizenship?

Indians topped the list of foreign nationals acquiring Canadian citizenship.

How many Indians were caught at the US border attempting to enter illegally in the past year?

About 97,000 Indians were caught at the US border while attempting to enter the country illegally in the past year.

What is the approximate number of Indians who have gone abroad on work visas in the past 2.5 years?

In the past 2.5 years, about 28 lakh Indians have gone abroad on work visas.

How many Indian students are studying in different countries worldwide?

There are 13 lakh Indian students studying across 70 different countries worldwide.

How many High Net Worth Individuals is India expected to lose in 2023 alone?

India is expected to lose as many as 6,500 High Net Worth Individuals in 2023 alone.

What percentage of India's population paid income tax in 2023?

Only 2.2 CR individuals, which is less than 2% of India's population, paid income tax in 2023.

What is the main issue with the tax-paying population in India according to the script?

The script highlights that more than 90% of India's economy operates informally, and the middle class, despite paying taxes, feels neglected due to the lack of benefits and government services.

How does the script describe the work culture in India's private sectors?

The script describes the work culture in India's private sectors as toxic, with long working hours, office politics, and a lack of work-life balance.

What is the script's perspective on the impact of corruption on daily life in India?

The script suggests that corruption has become ingrained in daily life in India, affecting various aspects such as real estate, obtaining licenses, and even education, making it a significant factor for people to consider moving abroad.

How does the Indian passport's ranking affect its citizens' ability to travel abroad?

India's passport ranking of 83 makes it challenging for its citizens to travel to developed countries without a valid visa, which is a motivation for some to seek foreign citizenship.

What are the script's comments on the air quality and infrastructure in Indian cities?

The script points out that air quality in Indian cities like Mumbai and Kolkata is significantly worse compared to cities like New York, and the infrastructure, even in metro cities, is insufficient, as exemplified by the recent floods in Chennai.

What does the script suggest as a reason for the rich getting richer while the average person struggles?

The script implies that the political system, where politicians are described as full-time actors and corruption as their birthright, contributes to the widening gap between the rich and the average person.

Outlines

00:00

🌍 Indian Migration and Tax Challenges

The script discusses the mass migration of Indians to OECD countries, with a focus on the reasons behind this trend. It highlights the high number of Indians caught attempting to enter the US illegally and the significant number of Indians studying and working abroad. The script also touches on the issue of tax evasion in India, with less than 2% of the population paying income tax, and the burden this places on the middle class. The lack of government benefits despite high tax contributions is emphasized, suggesting that this neglect is a driving factor for middle-class Indians to seek a better quality of life in other countries.

05:00

🏭 Toxic Work Culture and Corruption in India

This paragraph delves into the demanding work culture in India's private sector, where long hours, office politics, and a lack of work-life balance are common. It points out the mental health risks associated with such an environment and criticizes the low pay for corporate employees, which has not kept pace with inflation. The script also addresses the widespread corruption in India, affecting everything from real estate to education, and its impact on daily life. The slow progress in combating these issues is contrasted with the immediate benefits of moving to countries with less corruption.

10:01

🛂 Passport Strength and Quality of Life Concerns

The final paragraph discusses the challenges of traveling with an Indian passport, ranking 83 globally, and the impact of illegal immigration on its strength. It also explores the desire for a foreign citizenship to gain access to better opportunities and global mobility. The script criticizes India's poor air quality, inadequate infrastructure, and the growing divide between the rich and the average citizen. It concludes with a commentary on the political landscape and corruption, suggesting that these issues are significant factors in the decision of many to leave India.

Keywords

💡Exodus

The term 'exodus' refers to a large-scale departure of people from a specific region or country. In the context of the video, it is used to describe the significant number of Indians choosing to leave India for other countries, seeking better opportunities and quality of life. The script mentions 'India is expected to witness an exodus of scores of millionaires' and the large number of Indians going abroad on work visas.

💡OECD Countries

OECD stands for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, which is an international organization of 38 member countries that accept the principles of representative democracy and free-market economy. The script refers to '2.8 million foreign nationals migrated to an OECD country,' highlighting the preferred destinations for Indian migrants seeking economic opportunities.

💡High Net Worth Individuals (HNWI)

High Net Worth Individuals are people with a high net worth, typically defined as having substantial financial assets. The video discusses the potential loss of '6,500 High net worth individuals in 2023 alone,' indicating a trend of wealthy Indians leaving the country, which could impact the economy and tax base.

💡Informal Economy

The informal economy consists of economic activities that are not regulated by the laws of a country. The script states that 'more than 90% of our economy is operating informally,' which means that a large portion of the workforce is not contributing to government revenue through taxes, affecting the overall economic structure and social services.

💡Middle Class

The middle class is a social stratum that finds itself between the working class and the upper class, often characterized by moderate income and standard of living. The video emphasizes the struggles of the 'middle class' in India, who despite paying taxes, feel neglected and undervalued by the government, leading to their desire to migrate.

💡Tax Evasion

Tax evasion is the illegal act of not paying taxes by willfully evading tax regulations. The script mentions 'huge businesses and wealthy individuals who are using this loophole as a means to avoid paying income tax,' pointing out a systemic issue where some individuals exploit the system to evade their fiscal responsibilities.

💡Work-Life Balance

Work-life balance refers to the equilibrium between an individual's work and personal life. The video discusses the 'toxic work culture in India,' where employees face long working hours and poor work-life balance, contributing to the desire to seek better working conditions abroad.

💡Corruption

Corruption is the dishonest or fraudulent conduct by those in power, typically involving bribery or manipulation for personal gain. The script describes corruption as 'seeping into various aspects of lives,' from real estate to education, and its pervasiveness in India, which prompts some individuals to migrate to countries perceived as less corrupt.

💡Global Passport Ranking

The global passport ranking is a measure of the strength of a country's passport based on the number of countries its holders can visit without a visa. The video mentions 'India is ranked 83 in the global passport ranking,' indicating the limited travel freedom for Indian citizens and the appeal of acquiring a foreign passport.

💡Quality of Life

Quality of life refers to the general well-being and satisfaction of individuals and societies, often influenced by factors such as health, environment, and economic opportunities. The video script repeatedly refers to the search for 'a better quality of life' as a primary reason for Indians migrating to other countries.

💡Toxic Work Culture

Toxic work culture describes an unhealthy work environment characterized by excessive stress, long hours, and poor treatment of employees. The script describes the 'toxic work culture in India,' where employees face unrealistic expectations and a lack of work-life balance, leading to poor mental health and a desire to leave the country.

Highlights

Millions of Indians are fleeing the country due to various issues.

2.8 million foreign nationals migrated to an OECD country, with Indians topping the list.

Approximately 97,000 Indians were caught attempting to enter the US illegally.

In 2.5 years, 28 lakh Indians went abroad on work visas.

There are 13 lakh Indian students studying in 70 different countries.

Indians are the highest number of foreign nationals acquiring Canadian citizenship.

India may lose 6,500 high net worth individuals in 2023 alone.

India's middle class faces challenges due to high tax contributions and lack of benefits.

Only 2.2% of India's population paid income tax in 2023.

More than 90% of India's economy operates informally, affecting tax contributions.

The government needs to focus on increasing the number of taxpayers in India.

Agricultural income loopholes are used by wealthy individuals to avoid income tax.

High net worth individuals leaving India impacts the middle class with increased tax rates.

Toxic work culture in India's corporate sector pushes people to seek opportunities abroad.

48% of India's corporate employees are at high risk of poor mental health due to work stress.

Average pay for fresh graduates in multinational corporations has not kept up with inflation.

Corruption is deeply ingrained in various aspects of life in India.

India's passport ranking is 83, affecting the ease of global travel for its citizens.

Illegal immigration and visa fraud weaken the Indian passport's strength.

Acquiring foreign citizenship offers opportunities and global mobility.

India's air quality and infrastructure issues contribute to the desire to leave.

The rich are getting richer while the average person struggles daily in India.

Transcripts

millions of Indians are now fleeing the

country 2.8 million foreign Nationals

migrated to an oecd country do you know

who topped this list Indians in the past

year about 97,000 Indians were caught at

the US border while attempting to enter

the country

illegally

in Just 2 and 1/2 years about 28 lakh

Indians have gone abroad on work

visas we have 13 lakh Indian students

studying across 70 different countries

worldwide highest number of foreign

Nationals acquiring Canadian citizenship

were Indians India is expected to

witness an exodus of scores of

millionaires and May in fact lose as

many as

6,500 High net worth individuals in 2023

alone despite being one of the fastest

growing economies globally ranked in the

top five and soon expected to achieve a

GDP of $4

trillion why is it that more people are

choosing to leave India middle class

middle

class if we facing why should not we the

citizenship if I will get the chance

there I will definitely live the

safan

[Music]

in 2023 only 2.2 CR individuals in India

paid income tax out of a population of

140 crores so this means that less than

2% of our population contributed to the

government's Revenue now these numbers

might be hard to digest because

everybody you know from your friends and

family and and acquaintances is either

working in a corporate or government job

and are paying taxes but the reality is

more than 90% of our economy is

operating informally meaning people are

doing jobs that are not tracked or

monitored by the government so this two

percentage of people who do pay taxes

are mostly middle class people the

middle class gets crushed because

despite their huge contributions in the

form of paying taxes they don't get a

lot of benefits that are typically

offered to citizens in other develop

countries be the condition of Roads the

quality of air the water supply health

care or even education

you now yes the government does provide

subsidies and other benefits to its

citizens but think about it if you are a

middleclass individual when was the last

time you used these benefits offered by

the government or got treated in a

government hospital or even enroll your

kids in a government School despite

their High tax contributions middleclass

people don't get much in return they

feel neglected so they choose to migrate

to other countries searching for a

better quality of

life to tackle this issue the government

needs to focus on increasing the overall

number of tax payers in the country for

instance about 45% of the labor force in

India is employed in agriculture and

their income is exempt from income tax

sure small family Farmers need a tax

break but there are huge businesses and

Wealthy individuals who are using this

loophole as a means to avoid paying

income tax from 2015 to 2017 there were

roughly 22,000 cases where individuals

had an agriculture income of more than 5

lakhs and were not taxed the math is

simple as the number of people paying

taxes goes down the effective tax rate

goes up

the tax rates are so bad right now that

even high net worth individuals are now

leaving the country this also impacts

the middle class because when these H

and I who pay hundreds of crores in

taxes every year are moving out of the

country the government has to compensate

for this lost income by increasing the

overall tax rate the middle class finds

itself in a vulnerable position they are

mostly salaried employees working

corporate jobs and they don't protest or

go on strikes or voice out their

concerns so these people take the easy

way out by exploring options such as

student visas or wait for on-site

opportunities to move to developed

countries where they hope to lead a

better quality of life given the effort

they put in and the taxes they

pay another major reason why a lot of

Indians are moving abroad is to escape

the toxic work culture in India in

private sectors particularly in

corporate jobs having a healthy work

life balance is extremely rare despite

being 9 to5 on paper the reality is

people work for 10 to 12 hours every day

in addition to working hard employees

also deal with a ton of office politics

favoritism and drama when it comes to

performance reviews and

appraisals okay

what do we do with them we penalize them

managers and bosses in India have a

questionable reputation regardless of

the time of the day whether it's a

weekend late at night or even during

vacation they expect their subordinates

to make themselves available to work at

any given moment some studies show that

48% of India's corporate employees are

at high risk of poor Mental Health

Health on average a person spends about

90,000 hearts at work over a lifetime so

it's highly important to have a postive

work environment and despite all these

challenges the pay for corporate

employees especially the ones working in

mncs has been terrible over the past

decade the average pay for freshes in

mnc's has marginally increased from 2.45

to 3.5 lakhs failing to even keep up

with inflation why is it that fresh

salaries for engineers why is it not

gone up in the last so many years it's

still between the three 4 lakh range if

you look at it this way we actually are

paying uh based on the talent uh and and

we actually encourage people to

basically come at different CS of of

talent coming in and what's worse is a

lot of Industry leaders are now

expecting young people to work for 70

hours a week for iners must say this is

my country I want to work 70 hours a

week so to escape this toxic work

culture a lot of young individuals

eagerly await for on-site opportunities

and choose not to come back so unless

these issues are addressed and

governmental policies are established to

make sure that employees aren't

exploited this trend of people

preferring to go abroad for work is

likely to

persist corruption has seeped into

various aspects of lives from offering

bribes to buy real estate to obtaining a

driver's license to passport

verification to even paying off traffic

police we even have to pay several LHS

as a donation to get into engineering or

medical colleges even small shop owners

and Street vendors have to regularly pay

bribes to the police to avoid being

closed

down corruption has become so ingrain in

our lives that today when a government

official performs their duties honestly

it comes off as a surprise and is

praised as an exceptional act even

though that should be the standard way

of

working I understand that no country is

a corruption-free Utopia but the key

difference is that in developed

countries corruption occurs at higher

levels and has minimal impact on the

day-to-day life of

citizens in India money speaks more than

rules and regulations you can pretty

much get out of any situation with money

now changes are happening especially

with things like the digital India

campaign we can hope that these issues

will be resolved over time but it's a

slow progress so instead of waiting for

several years for things to be resolved

in India many young folks are choosing

to move abroad where they could lead A

Life That's devoid of

corruption currently India is ranked 83

in the global passport ranking this

means that traveling to developed

countries without a valid Visa is a

challenge and the situation is only

getting worse every

year two I have an idea why don't we all

fly down to Paris next week together I'm

Indian I need a visa I need a visa to

even visit the toilet a lot of this is

attributed to India's poor track record

of illegal immigration 97,000 Indians

have attempted to enter the US illegally

in the year 2023 most recently 66 people

from Gujarat were caught in France where

they plan to illegally cross the US

border even legal systems are being

manipulated by Indian

but it's been found that the H1B program

is now being abused there has been a

sharp increase in fraudulent efforts

according to authorities some companies

are manipulating the system to gain an

unfair

[Music]

Advantage there are even cases of people

cheating on the English proficiency test

to enter into these developed countries

these activities are increasingly

weakening the Indian passport and is

making it difficult for the average

person to travel abroad so a significant

motivation for individuals to leave

India is the prospect of acquiring a

foreign citizenship and consequently a

passport from a developed country having

a strong passport would open up a world

of opportunities like businesses

attending events conferences and

workshops worldwide making Global

Mobility more

convenient we all should take pride in

being Indians but at the same time we

shouldn't turn a blind eye when it comes

to pointing out issues in the country we

pay a huge premium to our lives when it

comes to air quality the air quality

index of cities like Mumbai or Kolkata

is about 170 for reference the aqi of

New York City is only

25 look at our infrastructure even Metro

cities like Chennai are insufficient to

protect people during the recent floods

we're reporting from bacheri in Chennai

due to the unprecedented rins that

pounded the city several parts several

pockets of Chennai are completely

flooded many aspects of our daily lives

go unnoticed we often live thinking that

everything is fine we are soon reaching

a point where people are preferring to

go abroad and only consider returning

for emotional reasons like friends or

family the rich are getting richer while

the average person is struggling every

day

I read this comment on Kora which kind

of sums it up politicians are full-time

actors and Corruption is their

Birthright what do you expect from a

common man who is powerless if given a

chance everyone will run

away