India’s Student Exodus Signals Deepening ‘Brain Drain,’ NITI Aayog Warns

A NITI Aayog report warns that India’s higher education system is deepening brain drain, with nearly 25 Indian students going abroad for every foreign student coming in. Rising outbound mobility, high financial outflows, and weak talent retention threaten innovation and development, prompting calls for “internationalisation at home” to strengthen domestic research, attract global talent, and retain skilled youth.

India is sending vastly more students overseas for higher education than it is welcoming from other countries, a trend that policymakers say is accelerating the country’s long-standing brain drain. A new report by the NITI Aayog reveals that for every international student who chooses India as a study destination, nearly 25 Indian students pursue education abroad.

The findings are detailed in the Internationalisation of Higher Education in India report, released on Monday by NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman Suman Bery. According to the report, India hosted 46,878 foreign students during the 2021–22 academic year, while more than 11.59 lakh Indian students went abroad for higher studies. That number rose sharply to 13.36 lakh by 2024, underscoring what the report describes as a persistent and growing imbalance in global student mobility.

The document notes that India’s approach to internationalisation has largely focused on sending students overseas to gain global exposure. While this has expanded individual opportunities, it has also contributed significantly to the loss of skilled human capital. “The current pattern of internationalisation in Indian higher education is heavily tilted towards outbound mobility, which has played a major role in aggravating brain drain,” the report observes.

Prepared jointly with IIT Madras, the Association of Indian Universities, and international education services firm Acumen, the study links the disparity between inbound and outbound students to India’s difficulty in retaining domestic talent and attracting learners from abroad. These concerns emerge even as the country is actively pushing reforms aligned with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, which encourages global engagement. The policy framework supports initiatives such as allowing foreign universities to establish campuses in India and enabling leading Indian institutions to open branches overseas.

Beyond the academic implications, the report draws attention to the substantial financial cost of students studying abroad. Using Reserve Bank of India data, it highlights that outward remittances for education under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme have surged by more than 2,000 percent over the past decade—from Rs 975 crore in 2013–14 to Rs 29,000 crore in 2023–24. This outflow alone amounts to roughly 53 percent of the Union government’s total higher education budget of about Rs 55,000 crore for 2023–24.

While acknowledging recent policy measures—such as University Grants Commission guidelines for foreign university campuses in India and the promotion of dual and joint degree programmes—the report stresses that these steps are not enough. The sheer scale of outbound student migration, it argues, highlights the need for coordinated strategies at both the systemic and institutional levels to make India more attractive for international students, researchers, and faculty.

The report also frames the issue as a missed opportunity at a critical demographic moment. With an average age of 28.4 years, India has one of the youngest populations globally. Yet a growing number of highly educated young Indians are choosing to settle abroad in search of better academic and professional prospects. This trend, the report cautions, reduces the pool of skilled individuals needed to drive national development and risks undermining India’s ability to capitalise on its demographic dividend.

Furthermore, the continued outmigration of students and researchers weakens the country’s capacity to build a robust domestic research and development ecosystem. According to the report, this not only slows innovation and knowledge generation but also deepens reliance on foreign technologies, limiting India’s ability to develop solutions tailored to its own socio-economic challenges.

To counter these trends, the NITI Aayog calls for a shift towards “internationalisation at home.” This approach would move beyond student exchange numbers to embed global standards and perspectives within Indian campuses. Proposed measures include greater engagement with international faculty, expanded joint research initiatives, smoother credit transfer systems, and teaching practices that are locally grounded yet globally aligned.

By reimagining internationalisation in this broader sense, the report concludes, India can better retain its talent, attract students from around the world, strengthen its knowledge base, and reduce dependence on external systems—transforming higher education into a powerful driver of national progress and global influence.