Talent density in India is going to skyrocket, Snapdeal's Kunal Bahl says after H-1B Visa fee hike

Snapdeal co-founder Kunal Bahl was a Microsoft employee in the US but had to return to India because his H-1B visa was rejected. The rest is history.

This is an opportunity amidst a crisis, Snapdeal’s co-founder Kunal Bahl indicated, after US President Donald Trump ushered in the gilded age of US immigration with a $100,000 H-1B visa fee.

Snapdeal co-founder Kunal Bahl was a Microsoft employee in the US before he co-founded Snapdeal in India. (HT)

“In 2007, sitting at my desk in Microsoft, I got an email that my H-1B visa was rejected. It was crushing and numbing at that moment, but life-changing eventually when I moved back to India,” Bahl, who co-founded Snapdeal in 2010 and Titan Capital in 2011, said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, on Saturday. “To those impacted, be positive. There is something bigger and better in store for you.”

According to him, because of the new H-1B visa rules, “a tremendous number of talented individuals are going to be headed back to India”.

“It will no doubt be tough in the beginning to move base, but it will work out for them given the tremendous opportunities in India,” he said. “The talent density in India is going to skyrocket.”

$100,000 H-1B Visa Fee

Speaking to reporters at the White House, the US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said that the move would ensure US companies hire more American talent while sending less valuable foreign workers back to their home countries. Given that Indians account for over 70% of H-1B visa holders, these restrictions could prove especially damaging to the Indian diaspora in America.

The H-1B visa fee hike would apply from 21 September 2025 for a period of 12 months. After the initial period, the rule will expire unless extended.

Trump alleged “systemic abuse” of the H-1B visa system, particularly by IT outsourcing firms. The misuse of the H-1B visa program was a “national security threat”, he said.

“Further, the abuse of the H-1B visa program has made it even more challenging for college graduates trying to find IT jobs, allowing employers to hire foreign workers at a significant discount to American workers,” his proclamation reads.