I think the reason is simple and goes beyond this. By and large, when developing a brand new product, it's best to have a domain expert in that specific field o

I think the reason is simple and goes beyond this. By and large, when developing a brand new product, it's best to have a domain expert in that specific field or have personal, tangible experience with that product. American, European, and Japanese developers have an advantage because as consumers as well as producers in the world's biggest marketplaces, they'll always have a more fundamental sense of where money is to be made, what software is missing in what niche, and more contacts, which means more dollars to chase when it comes to potential users of a product. Could someone from India have developed something like Basecamp? From a technical perspective, no doubt. But from a "wow, there are a lot of small companies in the US that don't need these industrial sized solutions, maybe we can exploit that niche" - I think this gap is a lot harder to cross. I think this asymmetry will go away, as India continues to modernize. I bet there are tons of unexploited business opportunities that could only happen in India, and no where else in the world. American developers would be totally clueless on this, and if the roles were flip-flopped, and the dollars were in India, we'd see the same article about American developers.