A recent article about IITians caught my attention. This piece of data was astonishing: that 60 per cent of ALL startups in Silicon Valley had at least one IITian.

That is amazing. It proves that brainpower counts very significantly in entrepreneurship – a lesson we forget at our peril. India sent this brainpower to USA for 60 years – a massive gain to USA. Fortunately, that outflow is stemming, but I'm now told that IITs are no longer the same high quality institutions they once were. I believe the policy of reservations and inbreeding within IITs has caused this huge decline. My sense is that those who can, now go abroad directly to the best institutes. 

Here's the extract:

"If you go to Silicon Valley, that is where we started getting our fame," says Uday Desai, director of Hyderabad's new IIT. "Almost 60 per cent of the start-ups from Silicon Valley have a representative from an IIT."

So many IITans went to the US, accumulating doctorates, inventions and patents, that the US congress gave voice to the admiration of the US people with a special resolution in 2005.

Now, for many reasons, far fewer IITans go abroad to make careers. Among the IIT alumni who still go abroad for postgraduate work, the US remains the favoured destination.

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