New Delhi: The United States has “benefited immensely” from talented Indians who moved there and helped build its technology and business sectors, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said. Speaking on Zerodha co‑founder Nikhil Kamath’s “WTF is” podcast, he noted that people of Indian origin, especially engineers, scientists, and entrepreneurs, made huge contributions. He added that they continue to make major contributions across industries.
The H‑1B visa programme is vital to the US economy, Musk said, but warned that some firms have “gamed the system,” saying the problem is misuse rather than the programme itself. "It would be accurate to say that there's, you know, like some of the outsourcing companies have kind of gamed the system on the H-1B front, and we need to stop the gaming of the system. But I'm certainly not in the school of thought that we should shut down the H1B programme," he said.
Eliminating the visa would be harmful to the US economy, Musk said, adding, "I think they don't realise that would actually be very bad". In September, US President Donald Trump said new H-1B applications would cost $100,000, up from roughly $2,000 to $5,000 that employers previously paid to hire foreign workers. He also criticised the former US President Joe Biden's handling of immigration, saying zero border controls led to “massive amounts of illegal immigration” and a “negative selection effect.”
Addressing concerns in the US over immigrants stealing jobs from locals, Musk said his companies struggle to find highly skilled people, and global talent helps him bridge the talent gap. Saying that large‑scale artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics can only solve the United States’ debt challenges, Musk said the current US debt is “insanely high” and that the interest payments are only going to increase in the current scenario. Musk urged Indian entrepreneurs to “be a net contributor to society,” stressing that building useful products and services leads to financial success rather than chasing money.
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