Elon Musk says US has ‘benefitted immensely’ from Indian talent, calls out H1-B system misuse on Nikhil Kamath’s podcast

Tech entrepreneur Elon Musk said the United States has gained significantly from Indian talent but warned that misuse of the H-1B visa system has complicated the debate around immigration. He made the remarks on Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath’s “People by WTF” podcast, where the two discussed the shifting narrative around migration into the US.

Brain drain drain and Indian talent

Kamath noted that for decades, the US attracted “really smart people,” including many Indian-origin professionals. Musk strongly agreed, saying: “America has benefitted immensely from talented Indians that have come to America.”

When Kamath pointed out that this trend “seems to be changing now,” Musk reiterated: “America has been [an] immense beneficiary of talent from India.”

Why the narrative has shifted

Kamath asked why the US now appears more anti-immigration, even recounting his own anxiety at US immigration: “I passed through immigration and I was worried whether I would be stopped.”

Musk said the shift stems from political divides and the recent surge in illegal immigration.

“There are different schools of thought. It’s not unanimous,” he said.

He criticised the Biden administration’s approach: “Under the Biden administration, it was basically a total free-for-all with no border controls… You had massive amounts of illegal immigration.”

He argued that generous government benefits create “a diffusion gradient” drawing more undocumented migrants.

Political polarisation on immigration

Musk said both political extremes contribute to the tension: The left, he said, wants “open borders, no holds barred,” even if migrants have criminal backgrounds.

The right believes that immigrants take away American jobs, though Musk questioned this: “My direct observation is that there is always a scarcity of talented people… More talented people would be good.”

He added that companies sometimes prefer cheaper foreign workers, feeding public resentment.

On H-1B visa program

Musk said there are flaws in the system: “There has been some misuse of the H-1B program… Some outsourcing companies have kind of gamed the system.”

But he warned against extreme reforms: “I am not in the school of thought that we should shut down the H-1B program. That would actually be very bad.”

At his own companies, he said, cost-cutting is not the motive: “We pay above average. We are just trying to get the most talented people in the world.”