India’s Plan to Bring Scientists Back Home: Will It Work?

India is the latest country to introduce a major initiative aimed at attracting expatriate researchers and reversing the nation’s brain drain. Governments typically support these efforts through generous research fellowships, competitive salaries and dedicated funding. However, some scientists question whether the programme will have a significant long-term impact because it does not fully address the reasons researchers leave India, including limited research infrastructure, lower pay and uncertain career prospects.

In June, the Indian government launched the Prime Minister’s Research Council (PMRC), a public programme intended to encourage researchers to return to the country. The initiative will support 120 overseas Indian researchers working at universities, institutes and research centres across India. Successful applicants will receive research grants of up to 50 million rupees — approximately US$520,000 — over five years, as well as additional stipends, housing support and medical allowances. Fellowships will focus on strategic fields including artificial intelligence, quantum computing, biotechnology and advanced materials.

India is not alone in using research funding to attract scientists from overseas. China has also brought back thousands of researchers by offering substantial financial support and favourable working conditions, according to research.¹ France, Germany and Denmark have also established fellowships for researchers returning from abroad.

Large numbers of Indian nationals study overseas, particularly in the United States, but many do not return. During the 2024–2025 academic year, as many as 363,000 Indian students were expected to enrol at US universities, making India the largest source of international students in the country. A 2025 preprint suggests that 73% of researchers who leave India never return.² Researchers cite insufficient funding, inadequate laboratory facilities, comparatively low wages and limited career opportunities among the main reasons for leaving.

Changing opportunities for Indian researchers

However, the United States might be becoming a less attractive destination for some scientists. Abishkar Patel, a theoretical physicist at the International Centre for Theoretical Sciences (ICTS) in Bengaluru, says stricter immigration controls, more demanding visa checks and uncertainty surrounding research funding are making the country more difficult for international scientists.

An Inside Higher Education report cited by Patel found that the number of new student visas issued to applicants from India fell by more than 50% in 2025. Uncertainty in the United States, combined with growing opportunities in India, could encourage more researchers to return home, Patel says.

There are no comprehensive data on how many Indian scientists have returned, but researchers interviewed by Nature say India is becoming a more attractive location for research. National spending on research and development more than doubled between 2010 and 2021, although it remains below the average investment among countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. India ranked third globally for the number of science and engineering doctoral students in 2018 and third for the production of science and engineering publications in 2020.

Researchers also have access to new private sources of support. The Murthy Science Fellowship, India’s first privately funded research fellowship, was launched last year by the family foundation of NR Narayana Murthy, founder of the technology company Infosys, and engineer and author Sudha Murthy. The programme is modelled on the US MacArthur Fellowship, which provides multi-year research support. The Murthy Fellowship offers early-career researchers up to 50 million rupees over five years to advance their work and is intended to help retain scientific talent in India, according to the foundation.

Patel received his first Murthy Fellowship last year and used the funding to establish his laboratory. Before returning to India, he held research positions at the University of California, Berkeley, and Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Patel says the fellowship has given him the freedom to pursue basic research instead of focusing primarily on fashionable topics that are more likely to attract funding in the United States. US research support is increasingly shifting towards applications such as quantum computing, he says, whereas his work focuses on long-standing problems in condensed-matter physics. He also has fewer teaching responsibilities in India than he did in the United States.

Why India’s research fellowships may have limited impact

Many fellowships available to scientists returning to India are well suited to fields such as theoretical physics. However, more investment is needed in the equipment, laboratories and research infrastructure required for experimental science, Patel says.