Piyush Goyal says fewer H-1B visas are ‘good’—India aims to keep its talent home

Speaking at a media interaction on 10 October, Commerce & Industry Minister Piyush Goyal declared that he has never asked Washington for more H-1B visas and in fact believes “not getting more H-1Bs is absolutely good for the Indian economy.” The remarks come days after the US PERM freeze on major IT employers and amid continuing scrutiny of the H-1B programme by the Trump administration. Goyal’s argument is that India now offers world-class research facilities, venture funding and consumer scale, so top engineers should build unicorns at home instead of emigrating. He pointed to the growing number of Indian-origin billionaires in Silicon Valley as evidence of “lost opportunity.” The minister’s stance aligns with the government’s broader “brain-gain” strategy, which couples massive digital-public-infrastructure projects (UPI, ONDC, India Stack) with incentives for semiconductor, AI and defence manufacturing investments. Industry reaction is mixed. Startup founders welcome a larger domestic talent pool, but global-mobility managers in MNCs worry about friction in assigning Indian staff to client sites in the United States. NASSCOM cautions that bilateral trade in digital services still depends on short-term mobility and urges “balanced pathways” such as faster Indian O-1-style visas for visiting US experts. For global employers the key message is policy predictability: New Delhi is unlikely to lobby Washington for additional H-1B quota and may instead double down on attracting R&D projects to India. Companies that rely on rotating Indian engineers through US client engagements should stress-test project plans against tighter US adjudication standards. Tip for assignees: If your US green-card path now looks uncertain, explore Canada’s Global Talent Stream or Australia’s new Skills in Demand visa. Both offer employer-sponsored permanent residence within two to three years and recognise India’s STEM degrees.