The Rise of Uttarakhand’s New Mountain Entrepreneurs: Returning to their Roots

Beyond the story of reverse migration, a generation is renegotiating what it means to leave, return and build a livelihood in the hills.

In the Indian context, our own version of the American Dream has often been associated with moving away from where one belongs to bigger cities. In Uttarakhand, difficult terrain, climate-related hardships, natural disasters and limited access to quality education, healthcare and employment have pushed generations to larger cities in search of jobs and education, seeking a better quality of life.

For years, headlines about rural Uttarakhand have focused on distress migration, empty houses, entire villages abandoned, termed as ‘ghost villages’. While academicians and experts feared loss of traditional and cultural knowledge, with some calling outmigration a ‘disease’ infecting Uttarakhand, it was the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020-2021, which unexpectedly brought the question of returning home into sharper focus. The pandemic exposed the vulnerabilities of migrant life, particularly the lack of social security and access to familiar support systems. For some, it also prompted deeper questions about where they wanted to live, what they valued, and whether fulfilment needed to remain a distant, post-retirement dream.

Today, a small but significant shift is emerging in Uttarakhand, extending beyond the return that occurred during the pandemic. Some educated and skilled youth are choosing to pack their bags in the big metros and return to their roots - this time not out of distress, but because they see the potential of their hometowns and want to carve out meaningful lives and livelihoods for themselves.

According to a November 2025 New Indian Express article, citing the State Migration Commission's survey on reverse migration, 6,282 migrants had returned to their villages, with 43% belonging to the 25-35 age group. Many are pursuing livelihoods in agriculture, animal husbandry, horticulture, tourism and allied activities.

These numbers remain small compared with the scale of outward migration, but they offer a glimpse into changing aspirations and the possibility of building livelihoods closer to home. 

Returning to their roots

As young people return home, many bring with them knowledge, skills, networks and perspectives gained from their experiences elsewhere. Youth who are returning are applying corporate, academic, and technical experience to local resources and opportunities. This is a deliberate shift from survival to strategy.

At Margshala, we see this shift taking shape across different sectors of the mountain economy:

• Digital Ventures: Armed with a Bachelor’s in Computer Applications and years of experience as a web developer in the fast-paced hustle of Delhi, Devendra Mahori, (a Swarozgar Fellow) felt that a sense of impact or fulfilment was missing from his corporate life. In early 2020, he moved back to Pithoragarh and launched Creative Inventors, a web design company alongside Lal Bahadur Shastri computer training institute in Pithoragarh. Despite challenges with connectivity and the COVID-19 lockdowns, he continued developing his venture and has since helped hundreds of youth access digital skills training.

• Artisanal Renaissance: Some returnees are finding new ways to connect local skills and resources with contemporary markets. Ekta Aggarwal, founder of the Pagdandi Foundation, left a corporate career in Mumbai and moved back to Dehradun. Through her work with rural communities, she has introduced women to natural fabric painting, natural colours and natural tea blends. She is also exploring ways to connect their products to wider markets, helping women gain greater recognition and break away from exploitative middlemen.

• Regenerative Eco-Tourism: The mountains don't just need tourists, they need caretakers. Young entrepreneurs are stepping into eco-tourism and nature-based models, like wild beekeeping and eco-stays that respect the fragile ecology of the Himalayas. At 29, Arun Prasad of Tehri Garhwal returned to combine indigenous beekeeping with nature-based eco-tourism. He integrated organic wild honey production with guided ecological walks, providing immersive experiences for visitors while safeguarding native biodiversity and generating fair local wages.

These journeys challenge the assumption that meaningful enterprise opportunities exist only in big cities.

The unseen impact: Bringing skills, networks and new aspirations home

Reversing Brain Drain: When an educated young professional returns to the hills,they may bring more than their own skills. Professional networks, technical knowledge, exposure to different markets and new ways of working can become valuable resources for local enterprises.However, this is not always the case. Many young people return without significant savings, professional experience or a clear plan, wondering, what next? For those returning without a plan, finding their place back home can be unsettling. They are back in the villages they were systematically taught to leave, stripped of the urban identity they fought so hard to build. The familiarity of home does not necessarily translate into clarity about a livelihood, especially when access to markets, finance and guidance remains limited.

Building Local Role Models: Yet the journeys of those who do establish enterprises locally can create possibilities beyond their own businesses. Seeing someone from their own region successfully run a modern, digital, or ecological enterprise can create new aspiration pathways for young people considering their own futures.When a young person in Pithoragarh sees Devendra running a digital services business and training institute locally or learns there, the geographical boundary of their dreams expands and makes locally rooted livelihoods more plausible. Success is no longer something that only happens in Delhi or Mumbai. It happens right here, on these very slopes.

Making the return sustainable

While local role models can inspire young people to imagine new possibilities, turning those aspirations into viable enterprises is another challenge.

Many first-generation rural entrepreneurs are in a challenging middle space - they may have an idea, skill or small enterprise, but are not eligible for conventional incubators. They require help understanding markets, applying business concepts, strengthening basic enterprise systems and developing an entrepreneurial mindset.

When Devendra hit a wall during the Covid-19 lockdowns, Margshala’s Swarozgar Fellowship helped him refine his goals, structure his business, and find a community of like-minded builders.

Such support, alongside better infrastructure, access to finance and stronger local networks, can help make returning home more than an aspiration. It can make building a livelihood there a realistic and sustainable choice.

Conclusion

True development for a Viksit Uttarakhand does not mean forcing every young person to stay back or return. It means giving them the freedom to travel, learn anywhere in the world, alongside the option to return home and create something meaningful where they belong.

The stories of returning entrepreneurs may not yet signal the end of migration or the revival of every abandoned village. But they are bringing new possibilities into the conversation.

Perhaps the dream no longer needs to mean a one-way ticket out. For a generation beginning to imagine opportunity differently, the road home can also be a road forward.

(This is part one of a two-part series. In our next piece, we will explore the other side of this narrative: the unsung stories of those who chose to never leave the hills in the first place.)