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November 25, 2009
India/Bay Area Love: something to be thankful for

This week, the Bay Area Council Economic Institute released two years worth of thorough research on the economic ties between the Bay Area and India.  We were excited to find out that the report features a short excerpt about Monsoon and Badmash.tv.

The focus is mainly on the entrepreneurs and students from India who have shaped industries like technology and farming in the Bay Area.  A few things I learned:

- Indian-owned farms in California’s Central Valley produce 95% of the state’s peaches (why peaches?).
- There are more foreign students in California from India than anywhere else.
- In 1910, there were a total of 6,000 Indians in the US (imagine how tight that marriage market was)
- In 1990, 23% of Silicon Valley’s engineers were Indian.

I’m still mostly blown away by the peaches, though.  Why are there no famous “Punjabi Peach Chutney” recipes?

The researchers also point out that the relationship between the Bay Area and India is unique in its complementarity.  Bay Area industries have profited enormously from the availability of engineering talent, while Indian companies have enjoyed the outsourcing revenue and the return of seasoned technology leadership to India.

At the Commonwealth Club event, Sean Randolph noted the following:

By and large, doing work in India does not come at the expense of American jobs.
Amen.

I’ve created a smaller pdf that features the excerpt on Monsoon and Badmash, or you can download the full report for free.

And, here is KQED’s Forum with a short show about the report:

 
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