Chidanand Rajghatta in ‘Times of India’ has provided some statistics about the country of origin of US entrepreneurs of start-up companies. It is inspiring and exemplary too for those youngsters who still move to US for further studies and perhaps with a dream of settling down in US. Globalization is demolishing, perhaps very rightly, the emotional attachments and responsibility to the motherland too. Mittal would not have been the largest steel maker in the world and that successful if he would have persisted with his own country. And today, the clan is expanding fast.

Indian immigrants to the US account for 28% of all foreign-founded private start-up companies in a climate dominated by immigrant entrepreneurs, according to a new study on the hotbutton issue.

Over the past 15 years, immigrants have started 25% of the US venture-backed public companies with a market capitalization of more than $500 billion.

A survey of private, venture-backed startup companies in the US estimated that a staggering 47% of them have immigrant founders. “India was the most prevalent country of origin with 28% followed by the UK (11%), China (5%), Iran (4%), and France (4%).”
In public venture-backed firms too, “the most common countries of origin are India, Israel and Taiwan.”

Indians started years ago. Amar Bose’s Bose Corp in Massachusetts and Suhas Patil-founded Cirrus Logic in Utah are among those entrepreneurs. Moreover, the immigrant founders are responsible for building a high percentage of the most innovative American companies, with 87% operating in sectors such as high-tech manufacturing, information technology and life sciences.
Some highlights of the survey are:

  Nearly half the immigrant entrepreneurs (46%) arrived in the country as students.

  More than half the founders started their businesses within 12 years of entering the US.

  They hold an average of 14.5 patents.

  69% of the individual entrepreneurs have become American citizens.

Authors of the survey emphasize the need for the US to remain open for legal immigration and to issue higher work visa.

US must have huge lot of highly skilled Indians and immigrants from other countries, who are still working year after year waiting for their green cards. I feel a democratic country such as US must be very transparent about the criteria of getting the visa so that they can use their creativity in area of their interest.