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New policy may slow tide of immigrant entrepreneurs

India, the country that sends far and away more entrepreneurs to the U.S. than any other, has a new policy that might help keep more of that startup talent at home.

Written by Mark Marich

U.S. policymakers continue to debate immigration reform as many try to figure out a way to enable immigrants to start businesses in the United States after satisfying certain funding, employment, and other requirements. Meanwhile, India, the country that sends far and away more entrepreneurs to the U.S. than any other, has a new policy that might help keep more of that startup talent at home.

Last week, the Indian government announced a new national policy for developing skills and promoting entrepreneurship.

The National Policy for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship 2015 “aims to create an ecosystem of empowerment by skilling on a large scale at speed with high standards and to promote a culture of innovation-based entrepreneurship which can generate wealth and employment so as to ensure sustainable livelihoods for all citizens.”

The new policy will focus on educating and equipping nascent entrepreneurs as well as:


According to Kauffman Foundation research from 2012, India was responsible for more than one-third of the immigrant entrepreneurs in the United States. With a strong commitment from the Indian government, it isn’t so hard to imagine more Indian entrepreneurs staying home and resisting the lure of Silicon Valley – the question is how soon?

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