When a Visa Hike Becomes a Mirror: Why India Must Double‑Down on Deep Tech

Reading the headline that Mohandas Pai called the Trump administration’s H‑1B fee hike a “self‑goal” felt like a quiet confirmation of something I’ve been worrying about for years: policy shocks abroad can — and should — be wake‑up calls for India to stop outsourcing its future talent strategy. The report captures his view that the fee hike will hurt US startups, and he urges India to use the moment to accelerate deep tech capabilities at home (Trump’s H-1B visa fee hike a ‘self-goal’, says Mohandas Pai; urges india to boost deep tech innovation).

I agree — but I also see a larger truth beneath Pai’s observation: moments of external disruption often become internal mirrors. What we see in that reflection determines whether we react or reinvent.

The short history: why this matters

For decades Indian engineers and researchers have been a resource in a global talent market. H‑1B and similar channels provided opportunity, remittances, and global experience. But they also created a quieter dependence: large parts of the value chain in advanced software, cloud infrastructure, specialized chip design and other deep technologies became geographically dispersed — and fragile.

When policy in another country raises the cost of using that talent, the immediate headline is about American firms and lost competitiveness. The subtler headline — and the one India must read — is that we cannot indefinitely rely on external demand to train, retain and scale our deep‑tech talent.

Mohandas Pai is right — and India has an obligation to act

Pai’s comment that this is a “self‑goal” for the US is spot on. But his urging that India should use this disruption to accelerate deep tech goes beyond critique — it’s a nudge toward agency. I have argued in the past that India must position itself to attract capital and technology, not merely labor (Position India in a leading role globally). Today’s situation validates that line of thinking: policy volatility abroad is an opportunity to invest in domestic resilience.

The core idea I want to highlight is this — take a moment to notice that I had brought up the need to proactively position India years ago. I had already predicted the fragility of depending too much on external funnels for growth and proposed mechanisms to attract and channel investment. Seeing how things are unfolding now feels validating, and it renews my urgency to push those older ideas into action.

What India should do next — practical, urgent steps

If we want to turn this moment into a structural advantage, we need coordinated action across government, industry and capital. A partial roadmap:

• Public R&D and mission programs for deep tech
• Create 5–10 ambitious national missions (quantum, silicon‑to‑chiplets, advanced materials, next‑gen AI, bio‑engineering) with multi‑year funding and procurement guarantees.
• Talent pathways and retention
• Fund PhD fellowships tied to industry collaboration and startup formation. Offer tax credits and seed grants to companies that hire domestically trained deep‑tech PhDs for multi‑year roles.
• Risk capital and procurement
• Expand public‑private early‑stage funds focused on deep tech and use government procurement as a non‑dilutive bridge for hard tech companies.
• Industrial policy to anchor supply chains
• Incentivize specialized fabs, design houses and test labs through coordinated state and central incentives — not short‑term protectionism but targeted, time‑bound support.
• Re‑skilling and reskilling at scale
• Launch national re‑skilling programs that translate global software experience into systems, hardware, and regulated‑domain competence (healthtech, aero, defense).
• Talent mobility, but with a plan
• Recognize that diaspora networks are assets. Facilitate short‑term, high‑impact exchanges, return fellowships and co‑founder visas that encourage circular migration rather than permanent exit.

Funding the future — practical financing ideas

We need money that tolerates longer horizons than consumer apps allow. A few pragmatic ideas:

• Mandatory deep‑tech allocation in sovereign and pension funds for patient capital.
• Tax credits for private angel and VC investments into pre‑seed and seed rounds for hardware and bio companies.
• Leveraging domestic savings for innovation: earlier I have argued for mechanisms that raise domestic savings and channel them productively; directing a portion into patient innovation funds would be consistent with that thinking (GST Conundrum and Jan Dhan ideas).

A final thought — urgency with humility

This is not a sprint. Deep tech takes time, ecosystems take iterations, and policy must be stable enough to attract risk capital. But the window to act is now: external policy shocks — like the H‑1B fee hike — will keep happening. We can treat them as annoyances, or as beacons that illuminate strategic gaps.

I choose the latter. I’ve suggested similar themes before — positioning India to attract capital and technology, building domestic capabilities and using government levers to catalyze markets. Today’s news only strengthens my conviction: if we move deliberately, smartly and boldly, India can convert the disruption of an H‑1B shock into the birth of a stronger deep‑tech future.

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Regards,
Hemen Parekh