Decades ago, millions of Indians left here for the West in search of better opportunities and a new life but increasingly a new trend is emerging where many of the children of those who settled and made lives in the US or the UK for example, have decided to make the reverse journey and came back to India.

Take Rahul Bathija, a businessman, born and raised in Birmingham in the UK. He moved to India 16 years ago after falling in love with the country and his wife. He decided to stay and he is now fully immersed into the customs and traditions here. When he moved, Rahul was one of the few expats in town but that’s changing. In 2010 alone, more than 30,000 people left Britain for a life in India and the numbers are rising. At the time, Rahul’s family couldn’t understand why he’d moved to the country they’d left behind.

“My parents made a medical school here in Calcutta and then they moved to England in the 1970s and I think they worked very hard to bring me and my brother up in England so, coming back was a real shock to them. They weren’t very pleased at all.”

Today, Rahul runs a successful mobile phone accessories business. Since India opened up trade to the world in 1991, entrepreneurs like Rahul have flourished.

“The opportunities have come up in the banking sector, insurance, food, recently they are looking at the foreign direct investment in retail, this is gonna attract jobs. Earlier I think, people like me would come for the cultural experience or just part of it, I think now people are coming for careers.” 

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