Same in California. For people that want the details:

https://california.public.law/codes/ca_bus_and_prof_code_sec....

California Business & Professions Code section 16600 makes clear that any non-compete provision between employer and employee will not be enforceable under California law

Yep, I've seen contracts where they say "Clause x/y doesn't apply in the State of California" and then the employer try to tell me "Well, it's not a non-compete" .. bullshit. It clearly is.

Doesn't stop them from including the clause in the contract though.

(Though nothing is actually enforcable in India like you said, simply because you would probably be retired before the case would get a court date)

If you include illegal clauses like a non compete in an employment agreement it can render the whole employment agreement void in CA and other places.

Just proves that lawyering is the continuation of bullying after your youth has expired

I got the impression from friends that it was a worse situation in India with relieving letters[0], the way it was explained to me you needed your current companies written permission to start a new job and that is frequently abused.

[0]https://workplace.stackexchange.com/questions/20945/what-is-...

Not sure if it applies for a high-level software position as much as it would for a regular "consulting" engineer schmuck hire though.

Not entirely true. See: https://www.mondaq.com/india/contract-of-employment/614370/e...

In what respects? I moved back to India for family reasons as well, but not sure I see the net benefits completely

yeah, but then you'd have to live in india.