Indian Startup Boom Brings Tech Talent Home

Last year, Abhinandan Balasubramanian quit his job at a London-based financial-technology company. The startup scene in his native India was booming, and he wanted in.

The 25-year-old Mr. Balasubramanian moved to Mumbai and in December launched his own business there: Altflo, a global online marketplace for assets such as real estate and shares in investment funds.

Basing Altflo in India was an easy decision, Mr. Balasubramanian said. “The cost of scaling the company is much lower in India,” he said. Office space and talent are “multiples cheaper than in the U.K.”

Lured by a flood of venture-capital funding, relatively inexpensive labor and the size of the potential market in the world’s second-most-populous country, entrepreneurs and technology workers with Indian roots have been coming home in increasing numbers.

Among the highest-profile returnees is Kunal Bahl, who moved back to India after working for Microsoft Corp. and co-founded online marketplace Snapdeal, based in New Delhi. Snapdeal, owned by Jasper Infotech Pvt., is now valued at $6.5 billion.

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