The Indian diaspora

The first principle

A diaspora is a community that lives in one country while keeping ties of memory, culture and family with another. For India it is an asset of a special kind: it sends money and ideas home, explains India to the world and speaks for India in other countries' politics, yet it owes its loyalty to the countries where it lives and votes. Every question about the diaspora turns on that tension. The diaspora is a living bridge that India can strengthen and protect, but not an instrument that India can command.

The core

Who counts as overseas Indian

• Non Resident Indian (NRI). An NRI is an Indian citizen who lives abroad, usually for work or study. NRIs keep their Indian passports and, since an amendment to the Representation of the People Act in 2010, may vote, though only in person at their home constituency.
• Person of Indian Origin (PIO). A PIO is a foreign citizen whose ancestors were Indian, such as a Fijian or Trinidadian descendant of indentured labourers. The PIO card (2002) gave visa free travel for fifteen years.
• Overseas Citizen of India (OCI). Created in 2005 under Section 7A of the Citizenship Act, 1955, the OCI card gives a lifelong visa and near parity with NRIs in economic and educational matters, but not voting rights, public office or farm land, so it is not dual citizenship. In January 2015 the PIO card was merged into the OCI.

The size of the diaspora

• Numbers. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) estimates that more than 3.5 crore NRIs and people of Indian origin live abroad. The United Nations (UN) counted India as the largest country of origin of international migrants in 2020, with about 1.8 crore people born in India living elsewhere.
• Spread. The largest communities are in the United States, the Gulf states, the United Kingdom, Canada, Malaysia, and South Africa, and in countries such as Fiji, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, Suriname and Mauritius people of Indian origin form a large share of the population.

Four waves of migration

• Indenture (1834 to 1917). After slavery was abolished, British planters recruited Indian labourers, called girmitiyas after the "agreement" they signed, for sugar colonies in Mauritius (from 1834), the Caribbean, Natal and Fiji. The system ended in 1917 after a campaign in which Gandhi and others took part.
• Kangani and maistry systems. Tamil labourers were recruited through headmen, kanganis, for plantations in Sri Lanka and Malaya, and through maistries for Burma, while Chettiar bankers and traders followed them across Southeast Asia.
• Professionals to the West (from the 1960s). Changes in immigration law in the United States in 1965 and in other Western countries opened the door to Indian doctors, engineers and later software professionals and students.
• Workers to the Gulf (from the 1970s). The oil boom after 1973 drew millions of Indian workers to the Gulf, most of them semi skilled, from Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Tamil Nadu and other states.

Dimensions

• Remittances. India has been the world's largest recipient of remittances for more than fifteen years (World Bank), and inflows reached about 135 billion dollars in 2024 to 25 according to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI); the World Bank's estimate for the calendar year 2024 was about 129 billion dollars. They support household consumption in states such as Kerala and help finance India's trade deficit. The RBI's remittance survey of 2023 to 24 found that advanced economies now send a larger share than the Gulf, with the United States the largest single source, which reflects the shift towards skilled migration.
• Investment and knowledge. Indian origin founders and engineers built firms and networks in Silicon Valley, and returning entrepreneurs and managers helped build India's information technology industry. Indian born leaders of global firms, such as Sundar Pichai of Google and Satya Nadella of Microsoft, raise India's standing as a source of talent, and the diaspora acts as a bridge for trade, venture capital and research partnerships.
• Political influence. The Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans (1993) and the Senate India Caucus (2004) in the United States drew strength from Indian American groups, which lobbied in 2008 for the civil nuclear agreement. People of Indian origin have led governments in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Portugal, Mauritius, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago and Suriname, and Kamala Harris served as Vice President of the United States (2021 to 2025).
• Soft power and culture. Yoga, Indian cinema, food and festivals reach host societies through the diaspora, and India's own message abroad is carried by people who are already trusted citizens there.
• Security and evacuation. India has a duty of care to its citizens abroad, shown in the Kuwait airlift (1990), the Vande Bharat Mission (2020), Operation Ganga in Ukraine (2022) and Operation Kaveri in Sudan (2023).

In practice

In the United States and Europe

• United States. Indian Americans are among the most educated and highest earning groups in the country, strong in medicine, technology, academia and now in politics at every level. They give India a constituency in Congress, though their votes follow American party lines rather than India's interests.
• United Kingdom and Europe. About 18.6 lakh people in England and Wales identified as Indian in the 2021 Census, about 3.1 per cent of the population, prominent in business, medicine and Parliament. Rishi Sunak served as Prime Minister (2022 to 2024). In the Netherlands, Hindustani families came from Suriname, and Indian students and professionals are a growing presence across the rest of Europe.

In Southeast Asia

• Malaysia and Singapore. Descendants of Tamil plantation workers and traders form a significant minority in Malaysia and a community in Singapore, where Tamil is an official language and leaders of Indian origin, S. R. Nathan and Tharman Shanmugaratnam, have served as President. Little India areas in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, and festivals such as Thaipusam at the Batu Caves, show their place in the life of these societies.
• Myanmar. Before the Second World War, Indians formed a large part of Rangoon's population, and Chettiars owned much of the paddy land of Lower Burma through moneylending; most left after the Japanese invasion and the nationalisations of the 1960s.
• Historical and economic role. Indian labour built the rubber and tea economies, Indian capital funded agriculture and trade, and the Indian National Army, drawn from the diaspora and from Indian prisoners of war, was led by Subhas Chandra Bose from Singapore in 1943. Today Indian professionals and firms in Singapore make it a hub for India's trade and investment with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
• Friction. In Malaysia, ethnic Indian groups have at times protested against discrimination, as in the Hindraf rally of 2007, and India handles such matters carefully as the internal affairs of a friendly state.

Institutions and laws

• Pravasi Bharatiya Divas. Recommended by the High Level Committee on the Indian Diaspora under L. M. Singhvi (2002), it has been held since 2003 on or around 9 January, the date Gandhi returned from South Africa in 1915, and biennially since 2015.
• Welfare. The Indian Community Welfare Fund (2009) pays for emergency help to Indians in distress abroad, the MADAD portal (2015) handles consular grievances, and the e Migrate system (2015) registers workers and recruiting agents.
• The law on emigration. The Emigration Act, 1983 requires emigration clearance for workers with Emigration Check Required passports going to eighteen notified countries, mainly in West Asia. A new law to replace it has been under consultation for several years.
• Outreach. The Know India Programme brings young people of Indian origin to India. The Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs, created in 2004, was merged into the MEA in 2016 to unify policy.

Issues and way forward

• A divided diaspora. The diaspora is split by region, language, religion, class and generation, and its politics in the host country follow host country interests, so it cannot be treated as a single lobby.
• Extremism abroad. A small Khalistani extremist fringe in Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia has attacked Indian missions and held so called referendums. In 2023, Canada made allegations about Indian involvement in a killing on its soil, which India rejected as absurd and motivated, and ties between the two countries deteriorated sharply. India's response is to press host governments to act against violence while engaging the wider Sikh diaspora.
• Gulf labour rights. Under the kafala system, a worker's visa is tied to a sponsor, which can lead to withheld wages, confiscated passports and poor conditions. India has signed labour agreements with Gulf states, set up Indian Workers Resource Centres and pushed for reforms, some of which, such as Qatar's 2020 changes, have loosened sponsorship.
• Visa and immigration politics. Rising restrictions on skilled visas, student visas and migration in the West can affect remittances and India's services exports. The answer is mobility and migration agreements, such as those India has signed with several European countries, that open legal routes and protect workers.
• Brain drain or brain gain. Emigration of doctors and engineers costs India trained talent, but return migration, remote work and diaspora investment can turn it into brain gain if India improves research funding and ease of doing business.

Common confusions

• OCI and dual citizenship. An OCI holder is a foreign citizen with a lifelong visa and many rights, but cannot vote or hold constitutional office, so India still does not allow dual citizenship.
• NRI and PIO. An NRI is an Indian citizen living abroad; a PIO is a foreign citizen of Indian origin, now covered by the OCI scheme.
• Indenture and kangani. Indenture was a written contract for a fixed term, mostly to distant colonies; the kangani system recruited labour through headmen, mostly to Ceylon and Malaya.
• Pravasi Bharatiya Divas and Know India Programme. The first is a periodic conference for the whole diaspora; the second is an orientation programme for young people of Indian origin.

For the exam

• Keyword bank: NRI, PIO, OCI, girmitiya, kangani system, remittances, living bridge, soft power, knowledge network, brain gain, Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, Indian Community Welfare Fund, Emigration Act 1983, kafala, diaspora diplomacy.
• Practise the previous year questions on this topic →
• Use in an answer:
  • Introduction with data: "India is the world's largest recipient of remittances, receiving about 135 billion dollars in 2024 to 25 (RBI), sent home by a diaspora of more than 3.5 crore people."
  • Introduction with a report: "The Singhvi Committee (2002) called the diaspora a vast resource that India had neglected, and its recommendations gave rise to Pravasi Bharatiya Divas and the overseas citizenship scheme."
  • Conclusion: "The diaspora turns India's culture into influence only as long as it is respected as a loyal citizen of its host country, so India's role is to engage, protect and invite it, not to direct it."
  • Conclusion: "A strong emigration law, safe legal routes for workers and steady protection in crises will matter as much as summits and receptions in keeping the living bridge strong."