The founder and CEO of Babaclick has explained why he chose to move from London to India to grow his cross-border e-commerce business. Gautam Chadha shared an Instagram video yesterday explaining the rationale behind his move, and also acknowledging that his decision to build from India baffled many, including some of his own family members.
Chadha said many people, including members of his own family, still struggle to understand why he chose to move to India when many people his age aspire to leave for cities in the West. He claimed that the conditions that once made Silicon Valley and other global tech hubs indispensable have changed dramatically, making India an equally compelling destination for founders.
'People still act dumbfounded'
Reflecting on the anniversary of his move, Chadha said: "It's been an exact year today since I moved from London to Gurgaon in order to scale my company."
The 24-year-pld added that the decision continues to surprise people around him.
"People to this day still act dumbfounded about why I did it, including some people in my own family, because everyone in India that's my age seems to be dreaming about going to London or going to New York or to San Francisco, whereas I did the opposite journey."
(Also read: After 5 years in Europe, founder says returning to India felt suffocating: ‘It's hard to move back home’)
{{/usCountry}}(Also read: After 5 years in Europe, founder says returning to India felt suffocating: ‘It's hard to move back home’)
{{/usCountry}}According to Chadha, his experience over the past year has only strengthened his belief that entrepreneurs no longer need to be based in the West to create globally significant businesses.
"But the reason that I made that move is that if you're an ambitious person that wants to build a generation-defining company, then you no longer need to be in London or San Francisco or New York in order to do that."
Why India has an edge
Chadha argued that India now offers founders nearly everything they need to build successful technology companies without relocating overseas.
"In fact, I would argue that India is one of the most underrated places to do this kind of work," he said.
He acknowledged that this may not have been true several years ago, when startups depended heavily on access to elite engineering talent concentrated in places such as Silicon Valley.
“Maybe that wasn't the case some years back because coding wasn't quite solved and so if you wanted to develop something in tech then you had to be in San Francisco hiring the best tech talent and competing with all of the other companies out there,” said the founder of Babaclick.
'You have every ingredient'
Chadha believes advances in technology have fundamentally changed that equation.
"However, that's changed so much, so unless you're coding something on the frontier — which you're not — India is the perfect place to do it and you have every ingredient that you could need in order to make it succeed from within the borders of India."
He ended by questioning why many aspiring entrepreneurs continue to view the West as the default destination for building impactful companies.
"So I don't know why people are still glorifying the West and thinking that that's the place that they need to be at in order to build something impactful on a global scale."
“Wish my son would consider India - well done,” wrote one person in the comments section. “The wisest move ever. Because India is booming in every sector. The West is unfortunately rapidly falling in every sector,” another opined.
“Thats so true, the US dream is inbuilt in us Indians so much, that we forgot the creativity and compassion is much bigger here,” a third person added in the comments section.
(Also read: 'Contrast is so absurd': Indian woman on identity crisis after moving back from London)