Vinita Gupta, who is said to be the first Indian-origin woman to take her company public in the US, said India now is different from her times. During his time, returning to India was not an option, but now there are lots of opportunities in India for good engineers. Speaking to San Francisco Chronicle on the issue of Indian tech leaders in Silicon Valley, Gupta said he still doesn’t think coming to the US is wasteful or unnecessary.“India has become prosperous enough where good engineers, technical skills can get you a good job. That was not true when I came,” Gupta said. “We couldn’t go back.”Gupta said Silicon Valley embraces people from all over the world and is the most egalitarian place. Although new doors have opened in India, technical experts should still come to America. “They should still come here because this valley is based on individual talents, not based on where you were born, where you got your education,” he said. “It’s like embracing all the people around the world. There couldn’t be anywhere more egalitarian than you.”“Gupta came to the United States in 1974, a year after completing her Bachelor of Engineering in Electronics and Communications from IIT Roorkee, India, in 1973. He received a master’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1974. In 1985, he co-founded Digital Link Corporation – a telecommunications hardware company, which went public in 1994.Gupta holds two US patents: one for a solid-state relay issued in 1984 and another for a square root circuit issued in 1986. After retirement from the company, Gupta has become a bridge champion.The environment in the US has become hostile for Indians and Republicans are calling for ending the H-1B and OPT programs. A recent survey conducted among 1,000 Indian-Americans by YouGov and the Carnegie Endowment found that 40% of respondents either often or sometimes thought about leaving the US, citing frustration over US policies and concerns over the cost of living and personal safety. A quarter of respondents also cited better career opportunities in other countries.