‘Real shift happened 20 years ago’: Anupam Mittal explains why reverse migration is rising in India

Shaadi.com founder and Shark Tank India judge Anupam Mittal has said India is witnessing a wave of reverse migration, with talented professionals now choosing cities like Mumbai and Bengaluru over moving abroad.

In a LinkedIn post, Mittal noted that people who once would have built their careers in Silicon Valley are now returning to India — not out of compulsion, but by choice.

“People who would’ve stayed in Silicon Valley a decade ago are now landing in Bengaluru and Mumbai, not because they have to, but because the work here is inspiring,” he wrote.


Mittal said stricter immigration rules in countries like the United States may have played a role, but emphasised that the bigger transformation has taken place within India itself over the past two decades.

“Yes, tighter immigration policies abroad have helped. But that’s not the story. The real shift is what we built here over 20 years,” he said.

He credited India’s evolving digital ecosystem for the change, pointing to the rise of internet-first companies, strong product-focused work cultures, designers who think like builders, engineers capable of scaling platforms from scratch, and operators who have thrived in fast-paced environments.

“We used to import talent. Now we manufacture it — at scale. Reverse migration is the headline. The digital ecosystem is the plot,” Mittal added, questioning whether India has finally moved past its long-standing obsession with settling abroad.

Mittal also reflected on his early entrepreneurial journey, admitting he once had doubts about the depth of India’s tech talent due to his experience two decades ago while building Shaadi.com.

“Perhaps it was just trauma from 20 years ago, when I was building the early team at Shaadi.com and hiring was a nightmare. We didn’t have product managers, developers, or UX designers. We had project managers, graphic designers, journalists and PR professionals, whom I had to convince with tea and dreams to help build a website,” he recalled.

However, he stressed that the landscape has transformed dramatically since then.

“I’ve spent the last six months hiring for mid- and senior-level roles. The depth of talent isn’t just better — it’s world-class,” Mittal said.