The India Connection

When Kedar Gupta arrived from India as a graduate student in New York in 1968, he had only his suitcase and $5 in his pocket. By 1985, the engineer and executive was recruited to lead a division for Ferrofluidics in NH, but first he had to convince his wife it was the right move.

Let's face it; on top of being rural, NH is not a bastion of diversity. (The selling point Gupta used was the region's high quality schools and colleges). When Gupta, now CEO of ARC Energy in Nashua, relocated his family there weren't a whole lot of people in the state that looked like him.

But then Gupta and John Talbott started GT Equipment and Technologies nine years later with $1,000. We worked hard and created the best group of people. We brought in a lot of [immigrants]. They were hungry and well educated. We created a United Nations at GT, says Gupta of the company he later sold.

While NH still has a long way to go towards diversity (almost 95 percent of the population is white), Asian Indians make up the second-largest segment of the state's foreign-born population.

Yep, you read that right. Of people immigrating to our state from other countries, India is second only to neighboring Canada, according to the Migration Policy Institute. Even taking a broader view of the population, people of Asian ethnicity are the third-largest segment of the state's population (at 2.3 percent), behind Hispanics and Latinos (2.9 percent) and Caucasians.

Those stats, in combination with India emerging in recent years from a third-world economy into a hot market with a rapidly growing middle class, have big implications for NH. As the Granite State has become a high-tech center, it has attracted more Indians, many recruited by tech companies like GT hungry for engineering and IT talent they can't find here. And as the Indian population in NH has grown, businesses catering to that community have become more prevalent, particularly in Nashua (home to many tech and manufacturing companies), which appears to have the largest segment of NH's Indian population. The Gateway City is home to many Indian restaurants, grocery stores and dance schools, among others.

India broke onto the list of NH's top 20 trade partners in 2012 (generating more than $31 million in sales for NH companies that year). While NH exports overall are down 20 percent since hitting an all-time high in 2010, India is one of the markets that saw an increase in business from NH companies, says Dawn Wivell, CEO of Firebrand International LLC, a NH-based international markets consulting firm.

Students from India make up the second-largest segment of foreign students attending NH colleges and universities (13 percent) after China. And some of the state's most successful companies are led by Indian immigrants, including TURBOCAM International in Barrington, Nobis Engineering in Concord, and ARC Energy in Nashua, which together employ more than 800 people (550 in the United States).

The population is growing. You'll see more Indians owning and operating more businesses catering to their cultural needs, says Wayne Jennings, chairman of National Cultural Diversity Awareness Council in Manchester (formerly the NH Cultural Diversity Awareness Council).

A Growing Community

Almost 25 years ago, 10 Indian families started the India Association of NH to help Indians living in NH connect with one another. Now the Association boasts between 400 and 500 members, says Barinder Ahluwalia, the Association's public service chair. Its events attract upwards of 2,000 people, she says.

There are a lot more Indians in Nashua and Manchester since I moved here, says Ahluwalia, an Indian immigrant who moved to NH 15 years ago. I've seen an explosion in the past seven years. The Association has youth programs that teach the next generation about their culture, holds cultural celebrations and social events, and has a fundraising committee that raises thousands of dollars annually for area charities.

Ahluwalia says high-tech companies in the Nashua area, as well as companies that need an extensive IT staff-like Fidelity Investments in Merrimack, attract many Indian professionals. Areas like Nashua and Salem also attract Indian professionals who work in the Boston market and are drawn by more affordable housing and quality schools. Schools are a big factor why people move [here], she says.

Ahluwalia, who works part-time as an interpreter for Lutheran Social Services, says there were no Indian grocery stores in NH when she moved here, and now there are a number of them, along with many Indian restaurants. Ahluwalia, who speaks three dialects, says she gets called a couple of times a week to provide interpreting services, often for medical and legal matters.

Jasmine Shah, who has owned and operated Aangikam Dance Academy in Nashua since 1982, has seen a dramatic uptick in her business over the years. Shah teaches a variety of traditional Indian dances, which she learned growing up in her native country, as well as Bollywood dance. Her Academy began informally when some of her friends asked her to teach traditional dances to their daughters. I started with seven students, says Shah, who now holds classes every weekday afternoon and evening to keep up with demand.

Shah says many Indians who immigrated to the United States 30 years ago focused on assimilating into the American culture and establishing themselves in their new home. They didn't necessarily teach all their traditions to their children. Now those children are grown and want their children to learn about their Indian heritage. This new generation of Indians wants their kids to learn [Indian] dance. I have over 200 students, she says. Shah, who has served on the NH State Council on the Arts, has seen an increase in the number of Indian dance and language teachers in NH. 

Among those passing their heritage along to the next generation is Neelesh Shah (unrelated), a software development consultant with C2 Consulting in Hingham, Mass., who moved from Massachusetts to Nashua with his wife and daughter in 2006. Neelesh Shah moved from India to Canada when he was 24 and later moved to the United States when he landed a job with Oracle. He and his wife moved from Worcester when their daughter was six to an area in Nashua with more children. They are members of the India Association of NH and the street they live on has five Indian families. For my daughter, we were looking for an Indian classical music teacher and had no problem finding one. We have friends who wanted dance classes for their daughters and there are all kinds of them, he says.

The growing Indian population also presents new market opportunities. Among those courting that market is MassMutual Northern New England. After reading about the growing Indian population in the United States and seeing the emerging population in New England, Terry McMahon, CEO of MassMutual Northern New England, based in Bedford, decided his company needed to get ahead of the curve.

In January, MassMutual Northern New England hired an Indian agent who was an insurance professional in India to work the Nashua area, says McMahon. And not just any agent. He was a member of the Million Dollar Roundtable in India, a global association of financial and insurance professionals. McMahon says new immigrants sometimes feel more comfortable speaking to someone with a similar background, particularly about financial issues. A couple of years ago we didn't have Indian agents, McMahon says. If we do not have [more] Indian agents in the next five years, we have failed because we missed an opportunity.

A Critical Workforce

Missed opportunities is exactly what NH's high-tech community worries about when it comes to recruiting talent from India. That's because there is fierce competition for visas for skilled workers in fields such as science, engineering and high tech. Nationally, India and China top the list of countries receiving H-1B visas.

The United States caps the number of H-1B visas issued annually to 65,000. Once the cap is reached, the U.S. provides an additional 20,000 H-1B visas for people who have obtained a U.S. master's degree or higher. Just how fierce is competition for these visas? The United States lets business apply up to six months early-in April of 2012 for FY 2013 (October 2012 to September 2013). The cap was reached on June 11, 2012, and the 20,000 additional visas were surpassed by June 7.

John R. Wilson, president and partner at GoffWilson, an immigration law firm in Concord, says that's a big problem for many engineering and high-tech firms in NH that rely on bringing in talent from India because they cannot find the skilled workers locally. Wilson's firm alone processes hundreds of H-1B visa applications annually, and the competition for H-1B visas is stiff, he says, explaining immigration attorneys anticipated the next cycle of requests would meet the quota by the first week in April. You need to file by April 1, Wilson says.

So what happens if a company realizes mid-summer it needs to bring an employee over on an H-1B visa? They don't get it, Wilson says. It's having a chilling effect not being able to get them. I have companies in New Hampshire who for the past six months have not been able to bring someone in and now have to wait another six months. It's killing them, he says. The Immigration Innovation Act, a bipartisan bill before Congress, would increase H-1B visas from 65,000 to 115,000 a year. Hopefully Congress will expand that. By doing so, we increase the bandwidth of New Hampshire, Wilson says.

Visas are not the only issue. Indian workers wanting to stay in the country and become permanent residents have to wait years to get their green cards as the government sets limits on the number of green cards available per country, and the number of green card applications from  Indians far exceeds availability, Wilson says. I have seen many Indian clients move to other countries because they could no longer afford to wait for their green card to come through We are losing our best and brightest, he says.

Gupta of ARC Energy, who has hired people from around the world to work at his various NH business ventures over the years, agrees the lack of opportunity to immigrate is causing some would-be immigrants to return to their home countries instead of working for U.S. companies. Nannu Nobis, an Indian immigrant and CEO of Nobis Engineering in Concord, says with economic conditions improving in India, he has seen an increase in Indians, particularly in the West Coast, choosing to return home.

The Higher Education Gateway

An important gateway for Indians entering the United States is through higher education. All four entrepreneurs profiled with this story (see sidebars on Nobis, Gupta, Marian Noronha and Dicky Desai) left India to pursue advanced engineering degrees in North America.

While foreign students make up a small percentage of the total enrollment at NH's colleges and universities (there were 2,912 foreign students in NH in 2012 out of nearly 70,000 students attending NH colleges and universities, according to the Institute of International Education), it is a growing market. The number of international students attending NH colleges and universities increased by 10.9 percent in 2012, according to the Institute.

Competition for international students is fierce as foreign students are willing to pay full freight. India is the second-largest draw for foreign students studying in the United States, says Thomas Horgan, president and CEO of the NH College and University Council. The same holds true for NH colleges and universities, according to the Institute of International Education. I do think India is seen as a new market and an attractive market to recruit students from. China remains the number one country, but India is certainly increasing in its prominence as a resource from which to attract students, Horgan says.

After years of steady growth in the number of Indian students coming to the United States to study, that number has started to decline, dropping nearly 5 percent from a high of 104,897 students in the 2009-2010 academic year to 100,270 students in the 2011-2012 academic year. Conversely, American students studying in India hit an all-time high of 4,345 in the 2010-2011 academic year, according to the Institute of International Education.

However, the number of Indian students attending NH colleges and universities has continued to increase slightly. Indian students made up 10 percent of NH's foreign student population in 2010 and accounted for 13 percent in 2012, according to the Institute of International Education.

Southern NH University (SNHU) has one of the most robust international programs in the state with 971 foreign students in 2012, second only to Dartmouth College, which has 1,175, according to the Institute of International Education. International students make up nearly one-third of SNHU's full-time day population, says Steven Harvey, director of SNHU's international admissions, adding 76 are from India. China and Saudi Arabia are the two top countries SNHU draws from with India third, he says.

SNHU, which has been recruiting international students for 29 years, has several agents in India to recruit students. Students attending SNHU from India tend to enter the Masters in IT program or the MBA program, says Rick Groleau, assistant director of international admissions at SNHU.

A smaller market that SNHU is courting is the spouses of Indians in NH on H-1B visas. Those spouses have H-4 visas that allow them to live here, but not work. However, they can study here and have free time on their hands. We attract H-4s from Nashua, Salem, and Woburn, [Mass.] to do their grad studies, Groleau says. Harvey explains SNHU has academic centers in Nashua and Salem, which makes it easy for Indians living North of Boston to take classes. We've been advertising in New England Indian Times and in local spice shops and restaurants, Harvey says.

Dartmouth College participated in a 20