Sridhar Vembu gives stark warning on brain drain to finance: 'A society driven by money will crumble'

Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu has expressed concern about the growing inclination of young professionals toward careers in finance, warning of the risks an economy could face from becoming overly dependent on financial systems.

“Smart Indian American children, whose parents work in engineering or tech, are moving to High Finance,” Vembu’s post on X said.

Sridhar Vembu highlighted a growing trend among Indian American youth, especially those with engineering or tech backgrounds, shifting towards high finance—a pattern long observed in the United States. Reflecting on his own experience, he recalled being encouraged to join a Wall Street trading team after earning his PhD from Princeton in 1994. Instead, he chose a lower-paying engineering role at Qualcomm, influenced by his upbringing and a lack of interest in wealth generation through financial markets.

Vembu pointed out that educated and skilled individuals have shown a higher preference for careers in finance over fields like technology, infrastructure, and healthcare, where their expertise could create a more meaningful impact on society.

He warned that while generating wealth through finance may seem easy, an economy overly driven by financial markets could have damaging consequences—a risk he emphasised as a long-standing lesson from history.

“Making money on money feels easy, but a finance-driven economy would destroy society. This is ancient wisdom, and we must pay heed,” he added.

“We need to apply our talents to solve hard engineering and tech problems, hard urban and rural infrastructure problems, hard healthcare problems, and so on,” he said.

To this, Molson Hart, founder and CEO of Viahart, responded—Vembu later posted his comment—saying, “When the best and brightest start going into finance instead of engineering, that is the beginning of the end for a country.”

“Governments, especially in countries that have not yet reached full development, should disincentivise the brain drain from productive industries into finance. The Indian diaspora returning from the West, such as those who made their money in finance, may not understand this and could bring bad habits home,” he added.