New York, July 5 : Many people dream of earning a big income in the US, working for a few years, and then returning to India to support their families, contribute to their communities, or launch startups. However, this vision isn’t playing out as expected.

While a user on X has some compelling reasons to persuade you to relocate and earn big abroad, the reality doesn’t quite add up. Sunil Avaria shared on X that one must move to California because, “All these people can change their community, change their village, and help their relatives like they have never imagined. Probably at an early age of mid-30s.” 

However, the discussion took an interesting turn when someone mentioned NVIDIA: “Ten years ago, instead of going to the US for school, spending $100k, and working 5+ years at a job, you could have invested that $100k in NVIDIA stock and made $25 million today.”  Investing in stocks was just one aspect of the discussion that also highlighted the increased number of Indian employees in NVIDIA. Data suggests that in 2023, NVIDIA reported to have 26,196 employees. Of this figure, about half, which makes 50% of the company’s employees, identified as Asians/Indians. 

Despite the impressive earnings abroad, there’s a noticeable gap between what’s being earned and what’s actually making its way back to India.   The Flipkart case study explains this better.   In 2018, US retail giant Walmart signed a definitive agreement to acquire a 77% stake in India’s largest e-commerce marketplace Flipkart with an investment of around $16 billion. But, did this money reach India?  Flipkart initially incorporated its holding company in Singapore to attract foreign investments and avoid the challenges posed by India’s bureaucracy and regulatory system.