How come no one goes to India?
WARNING: GROSSLY SUBJECTIVE GENERALIZATIONS PROBABLE THROUGHOUT THIS POST
I've spent about six of the last ten months in India. Mostly Goa but have been to many other parts.
Tons of foreigners do come to India and tons of them stay for long periods of time, but they aren't 'digital nomad' types. IME they fall into one of a few categories: yoga/spiritual guru, psychedelic/hippie/druggie and adventure sports.
India has its own yearly expat and longterm tourist cycle just like most other well-traveled countries. Roughly it goes like this: get a six month visa from October to March and spend that time in Goa doing yoga, going to trance parties and taking loads of drugs. When that's done pack up your shit and do a visa run to Nepal/Sri Lanka/Thailand/etc. and come back to either Rishikesh for more yoga and chillums or Manali/Kasol/Parvati/Ladakh for trekking and chillums. There are shitloads of people who do this year in and year out and have for many years. It's a well-worn trail.
I think there are a few reasons that many digital nomad types don't choose India. One is its historical reputation in the traveler community. As Scarecr0w said it's known to be a place to find yourself and find enlightenment (fucking lol at that).
There's also the fact that on the whole Indian building and service standards aren't great. Comparing Goa India to a place like Bali Indonesia which uses the same building materials and does most of the same shit it's not even on the same level.
There's also the unfortunate fact that there are many many places in India that are absolutely fucking disgusting.
Then there's the women. For the average traditional Indian girl there may be present a pretty strong ethos of saving one's self for marriage. There may be present a pretty strong ethos of not sleeping with foreigners. There may be present a deeply ingrained acceptance of an inevitable arranged marriage. And there may be a stupidly thick wall up regardless of their upbringing and specific culture. Not bad or good per se, just the way it is, and not too appealing for most digital nomad types.
Getting past an Indian girl's cultural and family defenses can be tedious and annoying. There are plenty of more outgoing and sexually open Indian girls but many of them can be found in places like Mumbai/Delhi/Kolkata/Bangalore/etc. and no one wants to stay there because Indian cities are fucking madness. That and many 'liberated' Indian women are headache-inducing for various reasons.
And then there's also the simple fact that there are better places to choose from if you're looking for likeminded people to surround yourself with: Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Costa Rica, etc. They have established expat entrepreneur communities and they're just as beautiful with better facilities.
In the balance though as qualo said there are parts of India that are stunning. The Himalayas are breathtaking, Goa's beaches are very nice, and there are places here and there like Udaipur that do it right. Streets are clean, service is good, city is beautiful, food is nice, internet is solid, very few power outages, etc.
I would love to know their experiences, the good the bad, and what to look out for.
For my part I've enjoyed my time here. I was in Manali in the lower Himalayas for about six weeks over the summer and loved it. Chill and enough off the beaten path that it's a good place to stay productive without a lot of distraction. Monster hikes, hot days, cool nights, apple orchards everywhere, strong Tibetan influence, awesome momos.
For the next few months I'm just off the beach in a nice and quiet part of North Goa. No nts nts all night around me but it's a quick scooter ride away when I want it. Internet is meh, that's the only major downside. Food is great, beaches are great, girls are great, parties are great. Goa draws a solid crowd from all over Europe and elsewhere from December to March. It's a really fun season. People definitely come here to blow off steam and do shit they don't do back home. Goa is much like the Nevada of India. It's easy to get sidetracked in the high season because there's always a lot of fun things to do, or do nothing at all and hit the beach all day. It takes discipline but I maintain a good balance between work and play.
Chill places I can recommend in India: Goa north of Anjuna (Vagator/Mandrem/Asvem/Morjim/Arambol), Gokarna, Hampi, Udaipur, Rishikesh, Old Manali.