‘The work here is inspiring’: Shark Tank’s Anupam Mittal believes India is finally cashing in on its ‘brain drain’

Anupam Mittal, 'Shark Tank India' judge, just threw a fresh twist into the old debate about India’s best minds heading overseas. In his view, the story’s changing. India isn’t just losing talent anymore. Those years of watching bright people leave? Now, it’s paying off.On February 20, 2026, Mittal jumped onto social media and started chatting with the press about something a lot of folks have noticed but not many have said out loud: India’s talent game has changed. Once, if you were smart and ambitious, you packed your bags for Silicon Valley. Not so much anymore. Now, more and more people are choosing to stay in India or even coming back. Mittal calls it “collecting interest on its brain drain.”Mittal even remembered the early days at Shaadi.com. He recalled how hiring was tough, and sometimes, even if you spoke English and could hold a conversation, you’d get the job. He said, “If you could speak English and didn’t blink for ten minutes, you were hired… Today, it’s different. I’ve spent the last six months hiring for the mid and senior levels. The depth of talent isn’t just better, it’s world-class.” From Mittal’s point of view, he calls it reverse migration. Professionals who spent years in the United States or other countries are heading home, or just skipping the move abroad altogether. And they’re not doing it because their visas ran out; rather, they want to be here.“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. Yes, tighter immigration policies abroad have helped. But that’s not the story,” he wrote on LinkedIn.Mittal’s point is simple: stop feeling bad about people leaving on H-1B visas. Instead, look at all the talent moving back, and the ones choosing India in the first place. These folks aren’t settling; they’re excited. Cities like Bengaluru and Mumbai aren’t just catching up; they’re drawing in top people with cool jobs, real challenges, and a startup scene that’s buzzing.For the unversed, India’s tech world isn’t what it was twenty years ago. Back then, it was all about outsourcing, and the dream was to get international exposure. But today, as highlighted by NDTV Profit, Indian startups are killing it in AI, cloud, fintech, SaaS, and product engineering. They’re grabbing attention (and money) from all over, and their products are used by millions. And this shift is changing what young people aim for, and it’s making seasoned pros rethink their moves. In fact, several users on the internet agreed with Mittal’s analysis.One user wrote, “What a shift! The evolution of Indian talent over the last two decades has been incredible — from scarcity to world-class depth. Today, it's not just about staying or leaving, it's about building meaningful work where innovation actually happens.”Another added, “This is such an enlightening perspective on the evolution of talent in India! It's incredible to see how far we've come from the early days of hiring challenges to now having a world-class talent pool.”