Indian diaspora

"NRI" redirects here. For other uses, see NRI (disambiguation).

Non-resident Indian and Person of Indian Origin

Total population
31 million
Regions with significant populations
United Arab Emirates	2,752,000
Mauritius	781,000
Trinidad and Tobago	422,000
Guyana	326,000
Fiji	320,000
Suriname	150,000
Saudi Arabia	3,430,000
Malaysia	2,100,000
Myanmar	2,000,000
United States	3,500,000
South Africa	1,160,000
United Kingdom	1,053,411
Canada	963,000
Singapore	319,000
Oman	312,000
Kuwait	295,000
Netherlands	217,000
Australia	190,000
Philippines	125,000
Languages
Indian languages, English
Religion
Sikhism, Hindu, Islam, Christianity, Budhism, Jainism

A non-resident Indian (NRI) is an Indian citizen who has migrated to another country, a person of Indian origin who is born outside India, or a person of Indian origin who resides outside India. Other terms with the same meaning are overseas Indian and expatriate Indian. In common usage, this often includes Indian born individuals (and also people of other nations with Indian blood) who have taken the citizenship of other countries.

A Person of Indian Origin (PIO) is usually a person of Indian origin who is not a citizen of India. For the purposes of issuing a PIO Card, the Indian government considers anyone of Indian origins up to four generations removed, to be a PIO.[1]. Spouses of people entitled to a PIO card in their own right can also carry PIO cards. This latter category includes foreign spouses of Indian nationals, regardless of ethnic origin. PIO Cards exempt holders from many restrictions applying to foreign nationals, such as visa and work permit requirements, along with certain other economic limitations.

The NRI and PIO population across the world is estimated at over 30 million (not including Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan or Roma diaspora). For examples of prominent NRIs, see List of NRIs.

The Indian government recently introduced the "Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI)" scheme in order to allow a limited form of dual citizenship to Indians, NRIs and PIOs for the first time since independence in 1947. It is expected that the PIO Card scheme will be phased out in coming years in favour of OCI.

Moving on out

The most significant historical emigration from India was that of the Roma (often known as "Gypsies"). Around the eleventh century, Central Asian invaders in the subcontinent took many Indians as captives to Afghanistan. These people then went to Iran and other parts of the Middle East as wandering court musicians. They gradually became a class of their own, wandering to Europe, where they were known as the Gypsies, (based on an account of their origins lying in Egypt). They adopted local religions such as Christianity and Islam, but combined some of their Hindu practices with the new faiths. The cult of Romani Christian saint Kali Sarah may have been a Christianization of the Hindu goddess Kali. They also speak a distinct Indo-Aryan language of their own, Romani. Another major emigration from the subcontinent was to South East Asia. It started as a military expedition by Hindu, and later Buddhist, kings of South India and resulted in the settlers' merging with the local society. The influence of Indian culture is still strongly felt in South East Asia, especially in places like Bali (in Indonesia). However, in such cases, it is not reasonable to apply the label 'PIO' to the descendants of emigrants from several centuries back, especially since intermixture is so great as to negate the value of such nomenclature in this context.

During the nineteenth century and until the end of the Raj, much of the migration that happened was to other colonies under the indenture system. The major destinations, in chronological order, were Mauritius, British Guyana, the West Indies (Trinidad and Jamaica), Fiji and East Africa. There was also a small amount of free emigration of skilled laborers and professionals to some of these countries in the twentieth century. The event that triggered this diaspora was the Slavery Abolition Act passed by the British Parliament on August 1 1834, which freed the slave labour force throughout the British colonies. This left many of the plantations devoid of adequate work force as the newly freed slaves left to take advantage of their newly found freedom. This resulted in an extreme shortage of labour throughout many of the British colonies which was resolved by a massive importation of workers engaged under contracts of indentured servitude.

An unrelated system involved recruitment of workers for the tea plantations of the neighboring British colonies of Sri Lanka and Burma and the rubber plantations of British Malaya (now Malaysia and Singapore).

After the 1970s oil boom in the Middle East, a large number of Indians emigrated to the Gulf countries. However, this was on a contractual basis rather than permanent as in the other cases. These Gulf countries have a common policy of not naturalizing non-Arabs, no matter if they are born there.

PIOs today

Indians in the U.S.

Main article: Indian American

Further information: South Asian American

Indian immigration to North America started as early as 1890s.A Sikh-Canadian community has existed in Abbotsford, BC Canada for over 100 years. The 1911 Gurdwara (Sikh Temple) on South Fraser Way in Abbotsford is Canada’s, and perhaps North America’s, oldest extant Sikh Temple. Emigration to the U.S. also started at the same time in the late 19th and early 20th century, when some of the Sikhs arriving in Vancouver found that the fact that they were subjects of the British Empire did not mean anything in the Empire(Canada) itself and they were blatantly discriminated against, some of these pioneers entered the U.S or landed in Seattle and San Francisco as the ships that carried them from Asia often stopped at these ports. Most of these immigrants were Sikhs from the Punjab region in British India which is now divided between India and Pakistan. They were referred to in the U.S. as Hindus (due to a common American misconception that everyone in India was a Hindu and also for want of a term that distinguished these immigrants from Native Americans who were also called Indians). Due to a restriction on immigration of their women from India, which was banned under the racist immigration laws passed by the US government in 1917 at the behest of California and other states in the west, that had seen a large influx of Chinese, Japanese and Punjabi immigrants during and after the gold rush. As a result a large number of these men married Mexican women in California. A fair number of these families settled down in the Central Valley in California as farmers, and continue to this day. These early immigrants were denied voting rights, family re-unification and citizenship. In 1923 the US Supreme Court in United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind case ruled that people from India (at the time, British India, e.g. South Asians) are aliens ineligible for citizenship in became a citizen a few years later in New York—Bhagat Singh Thind was a Sikh from India settled in Oregon, he had earlier applied and been rejected in Oregon.[2]. After World War 2 family re-unification was allowed again for people of non-white origin after being banned for almost half a century and they were given the right to vote. A large number of the men that arrived before 1940's were finally able to bring their families to the US, most of them settled in California and other West coast states.

Another wave entered the U.S. in the 50's, 60's, 1970s and 1980s. A large proportion of them were Sikhs joining their family members under the new color-blind immigration laws and professionals or students that came from all over India. The Cold War created a need for engineers in the defense and aerospace industries, many of whom came from India (and many of them came from IITs). By the late 1980s and early 1990s Gujarati and South Indian immigrants outnumbered Sikhs or Punjabis as new arrivals, though all communities had pretty much even representation in overall Indian-American numbers.

The most recent and probably the largest wave of immigration to date occurred in the late 1990s and early 2000 during the Internet boom. As a result, Indians in the U.S. are now one of the largest among the groups of Indian diaspora, numbering about 2.5 million. In contrast to the previous sets of Indians who entered the US workforce as taxi drivers, laborers, farmers or small business owners, the latest set went on to be very successful financially thanks to the hi-tech industry, and are thus probably one of the most well off community of immigrants. They are well represented in all walks of life, but particularly so in academia, information technology and medicine. There were over 4,000 PIO professors and 33,000 Indian-born students in American universities in 1997-98. The American Association of the Physicians of Indian Origin boasts a membership of 35,000. In 2000, Fortune magazine estimated the wealth generated by Indian Silicon Valley entrepreneurs at around $250 billion.

Though the Indian diaspora in the US is largely concentrated in metropolitan areas such as Philadelphia, Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, and Houston, almost every state in the US has a community of Indians.

Statistics on Indians in the US

In the year 2002, of the entire total 1,063,732 legal immigrants to USA from all the countries, as many as 66,864 were from India. According to the US census, the overall growth rate for Indians from 1990 to 2000 was 105.87 per cent. The average growth rate for the whole of USA was only 7.6 per cent.

Indians comprise 16.4 per cent of the Asian-American community. They are the second largest in the Asian American population. In 2000, of all the foreign born population in USA, Indians were 1.007 million. Their percentage was 3.5 per cent. From 2000 onwards the growth rate and the per cent rate of Indians amongst all the immigrants has increased by over 100 percent.

Between 1990 and 2000, the Indian population in the US grew 113% - 10 times the national average of 13%. Source: US Census Bureau

Today, Indian Americans are the second largest Asian American ethnic group following the Chinese American community.

Indians own 50% of all economy lodges and 35% of all hotels in the US, which have a combined market value of almost $40 billion. Source: Little India Magazine

One in every nine Indians in the US is a millionaire, comprising 10% of US millionaires. Source: 2003 Merrill Lynch SA Market Study

A University of California, Berkeley, study reported that one-third of the engineers in Silicon Valley are of Indian descent, while 7% of valley hi-tech firms are led by Indian CEOs. Source: Silicon India Readership Survey

Indians along with other Asians, have the highest educational qualifications of all ethnic groups in the US. Almost 67% of all Indians have a bachelor’s or high degree (compared to 28% nationally). Almost 40% of all Indians have a master’s, doctorate or other professional degree, which is five times the national average. Source: The Indian American Centre for Political Awareness.

Timeline

• 1790 The first known Indian immigrant entered the United States as a maritime worker.
• 1897-1914 significant numbers of Sikh Punjabi immigrants settle in California most of them being farmers, settled in rural areas or small towns.
• 1917 The Barred Zone Act passes in Congress through two-thirds majority, overriding President Woodrow Wilson's earlier veto. Asians, including Indians, are barred from immigrating to the U.S.
• 1923 The US Supreme Court in United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind case rules that people from India (at the time, British India, e.g. South Asians) are aliens ineligible for citizenship in becomes a citizen a few years later in New York--Bhagat Singh Thind was a Sikh from India settled in Oregon, he had earlier applied and been rejected in Oregon.[3]
• 1928 Dhan Gopal Mukerji wins the Newbery Medal, and thus becomes the first successful India-born man of letters in the United States.
• 1943 Republican Clara Booth Luce and Democrat Emanuel Celler introduce a bill to open naturalization to Indian immigrants to the US. Prominent Americans Pearl Buck, Louis Fischer, Albert Einstein and Robert Millikan give their endorsement to the bill. President Franklin Roosevelt also endorses the bill, calling for an end to the "statutory discrimination against the Indians".
• 1946 President Harry Truman signs into law the Luce-Celler Act of 1946, returning the right to Indian Americans to immigrate and naturalize.
• 1956 Dalip Singh Saund elected to the US House of Representatives from California. He was re-elected to a 2nd and 3rd term, winning over 60% of the votes. He is also the first Asian immigrant to be elected to Congress.
• 1965 President Lyndon Johnson signs the INS Act of 1965 into law, eliminating per-country immigration quotas and introducing immigration on the basis of professional experience and education.
• 2005 US Congress passes House Resolution 227 honoring Indian Americans.

Indians in the UK

Main article: British Asian

The Indian emigrant community in the United Kingdom is now in its third generation. As an immigrant group, people of Indian origin have been remarkably successful.

A remarkable collection of the oral history of the British NRIs is available on Britain's leading NRI website History Talking.com. It's a web radio where you can listen to some of the leading NRIs living in the UK.

Stereotypes about Indians have now moved from their being bus-conductors, waiters, and small shopkeepers to their being doctors, lawyers, accountants and successful businesspeople.

Increasingly, the second and third generation of Indians has started inter-marrying with the rest of the population. This has caused tension between the "old traditional Indian parents" and the "new generation UK Indians". Many third generation Indians are combining the British and Indian cultures. Third generation Indians tend to have broader knowledge and range of experiences than previous generations which often conflicts with the views of the older more traditional parents or grandparents. As a result some of the new generation of Indians do not want to marry other stereotypical Indian men/women.

In a few local areas, ethnic tension has resulted in ill-feeling and violence between immigrants and the indigenous population. For instance, the Bradford riots and Oldham riots.

Indian culture has been constantly referenced within wider British culture, at first as an "exotic" influence in films like My Beautiful Laundrette, but now increasingly as a familiar feature in films like Bend It Like Beckham. Indian food is now regarded as part of the British cuisine.

According to the April 2001 UK National Census [4] There are 1,051,800 people of Indian origin in the UK.

Indians in Malaysia

Main articles: Indian Malaysian and Chitty

Most Indians migrated to Malaysia as plantation laborers under British rule. They are a significant minority ethnic group, making up 7% of the Malaysian population. Most of these are Tamil but some Malayalam- and Telugu- speaking people are also present. They have retained their languages and religion -- 80% of ethnic Indians in Malaysia identify as Hindus. Hinduism in Malaysia diverges from mainstream (post-Vedantic) Hinduism: its main feature is Mother-goddess (Amman) worship; caste deities, tantric rituals, folk beliefs, non-Agamic temples, and animal sacrifice are its other characteristics. Deepavali and Thaipusam are the main festivals. However, there is an increase in agamic worship in Malaysia, due to the efforts of the Malaysian Hindu Sangam and several notable Hindu organisations in Malaysia. There is also a small community of Indian origin, the Chitty, who are the descendants of Tamil traders who had emigrated before 1500 AD, and Chinese and Malay women. Considering themselves Tamil, speaking Malay, and practicing Hinduism, they number about 1.8 million today.

Indians in Australia

It is said that the first Indian had come to Australia as part of Captain Cook's ship. Before roads and road transport were developed, many Indians had come to Australia to run camel trains. These Indians were called Afghans and kept the communication and supply line open between Melbourne and the center of Australia. They would transport goods and mail via camel in the desert. Some of the earliest Punjabi arrivals in Australia included Kareem Bux who came as a hawker to Bendigo in 1893, Sardar Beer Singh Johal who came in 1895 and Sardar Narain Singh Heyer who arrived in 1898. Many Punjabis took part in the rush for gold on the Victorian fields while Muslims from the north-western region of Punjab worked as camel drivers in the Central Australian desert.

Indians also entered Australia in the first half of the 20th century when both Australia and India were still British colonies. Indian Sikhs came to work on the Banana Plantations in Southern Queensland. Today a large number of them live in the town of Woolgoolga (a town lying roughly half-way between Sydney and Brisbane). Some of these Indians, the descendants of Sikh plantation workers, now own banana farms in the area. There are two Sikh temples in Woolgoolga. One of which even has a museum dedicated to Sikhism. A large number of Britons and Anglo-Indians born in India migrated to Australia after 1947. These British citizens decided to settle in Australia in large numbers but are still counted as 'Indian' Nationals in the census. The third wave of Indians entered the country in the 1980s, after the demise of the white Australia policy. After the policy was abolished many Indian teachers and doctors settled in Australia. Another big influx began with the IT revolution. Large numbers of Indian software professionals arrived in Australia from 1976 onwards. After a military coup in Fiji in the year 2000 a number of Fijian-Indians migrated to Australia and today there is a large Fijian-Indian population in Australia. These Fijian-Indians have significantly impacted the character of the Indian community in Australia. While most earlier Indian migration was comprised of educated professionals, these new Fijian-Indians were members of the merchant classes and small business owners.

The current wave of Indian migration is that of engineers, tool-makers, Gujarati business families from East Africa and relatives of settled Indians. Starved of government funding, Australian education institutes are desperately recruiting full fee paying overseas students. Many universities have permanent representatives stationed in India and other Asian countries. Their efforts have been rewarded and a new influx of Indian students entering Australia.

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, 87% of Punjabis residing in Australia are aged under 50 and over 83% of the population are proficient in English. As well as Sikhs, the community includes many Muslims, Hindus and a small number of Christians.

Indians in the Philippines

Main article: Indian Filipino

There approximately 125,000 and more Indians and Indian Filipinos who are PIOs/NRIs on a whole living all over in the Philippines. Most are concentrated in Manila, Cebu, and Davao, and even in places like Illoio, and other major cities and small towns of the named 11 islands. Indians have been in the Philippines from the 4th century A.D. to the 17th century A.D. Making Hinduism and mixture of Buddhism the main religions before the onset of Islam and Catholicism by the Arab and Spaniards. Even today, a lot of illegal Indians from India are smuggled in to the Philippines for a better life.

Indians from India also came when the British came in 1762 to 1763 in Manila around Cainta, Rizal to defend the Philippines from the Spaniards. A lot of them refused to leave and mutinied and married local Filipino women. Which explains why a lot of Filipinos around Cainta, Rizal are Indian descendants. A lot of Indians there have intermarried with Filipinos, more so than in neigbhooring countries like Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, mainly cause those populations are mostly Muslim, and the Indians there feel uncomfortable marrying Muslims in their host countries. During the 30s and 40s, a lot of Indians and Indian Filipinos lived in the provinces in the Philippines, and even Davao which at the time had have and still a lot of Japanese and Japanese Filipinos. When the economy of the Philippines were based out of Manila, a lot of them moved there. Which also explains why today half of the Indian and Indian Filipino community are now based.

Most of the Indians and Indian Filipinos in the Philippines are Sindhi and Punjabi, but there is also a big Tamil populations as well. A lot of them are fluent in Tagalog and English, as well as the local language of the provinces and islands of where they live. A lot of them are very prosperous middle and rich class (especially the Hindus) with there main jobs selling clothing. But there is also a lot of them are poor, mostly the Sikhs who mostly sell things and collect intresets, hence 5-6. Most of the Indians and Indian Filipinos are Hindu and Sikh, but have assimilated into Filipino culture and some are Catholic. There are 2 main Hindu and Sikh temple in Manila, and Hindu temples all over the Philippine provinces as well.

Indians in Indonesia

Main article: Indian Indonesian

Though there are no official figures, it is estimated that there are around 50,000 PIOs/NRIs living in Indonesia of which the Indian expatriate community registered with the Embassy and our Consulate in Medan numbers around 5000.

Indians were first brought to Indonesia by the Dutch in the 19th century as indentured labourers to work on plantations located around Medan in Sumatra. While the majority of these came from South India, a significant number also came from the North. The Medan Indians included Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs. They have now been in Indonesia for over four generations and hold Indonesian passports. While local statistics continue to suggest that there are some 40,000 PIOs in Sumatra, the vast majority are now completely assimilated in Indonesian society, though some elements of the Tamil, Sikh and Bihari Communities still maintain their cultural traditions.

The Indian Diaspora also includes several thousand Sindhi families who constitute the second wave of Indian immigrants who made Indonesia their home in the first half of the 20th century. The Sindhi community is mainly engaged in trading and commerce.

Among these communities, Tamils and to a lesser extent Sikhs were primarily engaged in agriculture while Sindhis and Punjabis mainly established themselves in textile trade and sports business.

Due to economic factors, most traders and businessmen among PIOs have over past decades moved to Jakarta from outlying areas such as Medan and Surabaya. Almost half the Indian Community in Indonesia is now Jakarta based.

The inflow of major Indian investments in Indonesia starting in the late 1970s drew a fresh wave of Indian investors and managers to this country. This group of entrepreneurs and business professionals has further expanded over the past two decades and now includes engineers, consultants, chartered accountants, bankers and other professionals.

The Indian community is very well regarded in Indonesia, is generally prosperous and includes individuals holding senior positions in local and multinational companies.

There are six main social or professional associations of the Indian PIO/NRI community in Jakarta. Gandhi Seva Loka (formerly known as Bombay Merchants Association) is a charitable institution run by the Sindhi community and is engaged mainly in educational and social activities. The India Club is a social organization of PIO/NRI professionals. An Indian Women’s Association brings together PIO/NRI spouses and undertakes charitable activities. There is a Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee in Jakarta and Sindhis as well as Sikhs are associated with Gurudwara activities The Economic Association of Indonesia and India (ECAII) brings together leading entrepreneurs from the Indian community with the objective of promoting bilateral economic relations, but has been largely inactive. Finally, there is the Indonesian Chapter of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI).

Indians in the Middle East

There is a huge population of Indians in the Middle East, most coming from Kerala and other south Indian states, especially in the oil rich countries neighboring the Persian Gulf. Most moved to the Gulf after the oil boom to work as labourers and for clerical jobs. Indians - all foreigners, in fact - in the Gulf do not normally become citizens however. They retain their Indian passports since most of the countries in the Gulf do not provide citizenship or permanent residency. One of the major reasons why Indians like to work in the Gulf is because it provides incomes many times over for the same type of job back in India and its geographical proximity to India. The Indian Diaspora makes up a good proportion of the working class in the GCC. In 2005, about 65% of the population in the United Arab Emirates were of Indian descent.

Indians in South Africa

Main article: Asians in South Africa

Most Asians in South Africa are descended from indentured Indian labourers who were brought by the British from India in the 19th century, mostly to work in what is now the province of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN). The rest are descended from Indian traders who migrated to South Africa at around the same time, many from the Gujarat area. The city of Durban, has the largest Asian population in sub-Saharan Africa, and the Indian independence leader Mahatma Gandhi worked as a lawyer in the city in the early 1900s. South Africa in fact has got the largest population of people of Indian descent outside of India in the world ie: born in South Africa and not migrated, compared to the U.S. Most of them are fourth to fifth generation descent. They mainly belong to the Hindu (the largest) and Muslim religious groupings. Most of them speak English as a first language (due to the British rule of the Natal colony), although some elders do speak Indian languages as a first language.

Indians in East Africa

Before the larger wave of migration during the British colonial era, a significant group of South Asians, especially from the west coast (Sindh, Surat, Konkan, Malabar and Lanka)regularly travelled to East Africa especially Zanzibar. It is believed that they travelled in Arab, Maratha (Coonagee Angria) and Portuguese vessels. Some of these people settled in East Africa and later spread to places like present day Uganda. Later they mingled with the much larger wave of South Asians who came with the British.

Indian migration to the modern countries of Kenya, Uganda & Tanzania started nearly a century ago when these were part of the British East Africa. Most of these were of Gujarati or Punjabi origin. Their number may have been as high as 500,000 in the 1960s. Indian led businesses were (or are) the backbone of the economies of these countries. These ranged in the past from small rural grocery stores to sugar mills. In addition. Indian professional like doctors, teachers, Engineers also played an important part in the development of these countries. After independence from Britain in the 1960s majority of Asians, as there were known, moved out or were forced out from these countries. Most of them moved to Britain or India and other popular destinations like USA or Canada.

Indians in Canada

Main article: Indo-Canadian

According to Statistics Canada, in 2001 there were 713,330 people who classified themselves as being of Indian origin. The term “East Indian” or Indo-Canadian is most commonly associated with people of Indian origin, since the term Indian in Canada has commonly been used to refer to the Aboriginal Canadians and still continues to be used to describe them, causing much confusion. In addition, the term Indian is also occasionally applied to people from the Caribbean (West Indians). Out of this population, 42% are Hindu, 39% are Sikh, and the remainder are Muslim, Christian, Jain, Buddhist, or no religious affiliation. The main Indian ethnic communities are Punjabis (who account for more than half the population) as well Gujaratis, Tamils (Indian as opposed to Sri Lankan), Keralites, Bengalis, Sindhis and others.

The first Indians came in small numbers to British Columbia, and were mainly male Sikhs who were seeking work opportunities. These first immigrants allegedly faced widespread racism from the local white Canadians. There were race riots that targeted these immigrants, as well as new Chinese immigrants. Most decided to return to India, while a few stayed behind. The Canadian government prevented these men from bringing their wives and children until 1919, another reason why many of them chose to leave. Quotas were established to prevent many Indians from moving to Canada in the early 20th century. These quotas allowed fewer than 100 people from India a year until 1957, when the number was increased to 300. In 1967, all quotas were scrapped, and immigration was based on a point system, thus allowing many more Indians to enter. Since this open door policy was adopted, Indians have continue to come in large numbers, and roughly 25,000-30,000 arrive each year (which now makes Indians the second highest group immigrating to Canada each year, after the Chinese).

Most Indians choose to immigrate to larger urban centers like Toronto and Vancouver, where more than 70% live. Smaller communities are also growing in Calgary, Montreal, Edmonton and Winnipeg. Indians in Toronto are from diverse locations in India, such as Punjab, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala. Brampton, a suburb of Toronto has many Indian residents, and the town of Springdale in Brampton is commonly referred to as “Singhdale” because of the many Sikhs that live there. Indians in Vancouver mainly live in the suburb of Surrey, but can also be found in other parts of Vancouver. The vast majority of Vancouver Indians are of Sikh origin and have taken leading roles in politics and other professions, with several Supreme Court justices, three Attorneys General and one provincial premier hailing from the community.

Indians in Mauritius

Main article: Indo-Mauritian

Outside of India itself, Mauritius is the only country where people of Indian Origin form the vast majority (not including Trinidad & Tobago where Afro-Trinidadiand and Indo-Trinidadians have equal populations, or Fiji where the Indo-Fijians once formed the majority but not today). The people are known as Indo-Mauritians, and form about 70% of the population. The majority of them are Hindu (77%) and a significant group are Muslims (22%). There are also some Christians, Baha'is and Sikhs, but the Baha'i and Sikh populations do not add up to even 1% of the population. Various Indian languages are still spoken, especially Tamil, Bhojpuri, Hindi and Urdu, but most Indo-Mauritians now speak a French-based Creole language at home, as well as French in general fields. Finding an Indo-Mauritian who exclusively speaks an Indian language is very rare.

Indians in Singapore

Main article: Indians in Singapore

Indians in Singapore are defined as Singapore residents who trace their ancestry to South Asia. They are the smallest of the three major 'races', forming about 9% of the population. Among cities, Singapore has the world's second largest overseas Indian population, after London. Singapore’s Indian population is linguistically and religiously diverse, as well as socio-economically stratified, with sizable elite and working class segments. Due to a recent influx of professionals from India, Singapore Indians now have a higher monthly income and are more likely to possess a university degree than the national average. Indian students also perform above the national average in several key examinations, especially in mathematics and science. Indian settlement on the island dates to the establishment of modern Singapore in 1819, and the Indian element is evident in broader Singapore culture. Likewise, Singapore Indian culture has evolved over time, making it distinct from the culture of India. Individual Indians have also made significant contributions to national life in a number of fields, especially in Singapore politics, education, diplomacy and the law.

Indians in Madagascar

Indians in Madagascar are descended mostly from traders who arrived to the newly-independent nation looking for better opportunities. The majority of them came from the west coast of India known as Karana (Muslim) and Banian (Hindu). The majority speak Hindi or Gujarati, and though some other Indian languages are spoken. Nowadays the younger generations speak at least three languages including, French or English, Gujarati and Malagasy. A large number of Indians are highly educated in Madagascar, particularly the younger generation, who try to contribute their knowledge to the development of Madagascar.

Indians in New Zealand

Indians began to arrive in New Zealand in the late eighteenth century, mostly as crews on British ships. A small number deserted; the earliest known Indian resident of New Zealand was living with a Māori wife in the Bay of Islands in 1815. Numbers slowly increased through the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, despite a law change in 1899 which was designed to keep out people who were not of 'British birth and parentage'. As in many other countries, Indians in New Zealand dispersed throughout the country and had a high rate of small business ownership, particularly fruit and vegetable shops and convenience stores. At this stage most Indian New Zealanders originated from Gujarat. Changes in immigration policy in the 1980s allowed many more Indians, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis into the country, and the 1987 and 2000 military coups in Fiji caused a large increase in the number of Fijian Indians coming to New Zealand. Notable Indian New Zealanders include former Dunedin mayor Sukhi Turner, cricketer Dipak Patel, singer Aaradhna, and current Governor General Anand Satyanand.

• Indians in Te Ara: the Encyclopaedia of New Zealand: http://www.teara.govt.nz/NewZealanders/NewZealandPeoples/Indians/en

Statistics

Further information: Overseas Indian population

Continent / Country	Articles	Overseas Indian Population
Asia		14,119,175
Nepal		4,000,000
Myanmar	Burmese Indians, Myanmar Indian Muslims, Anglo-Indian	2,902,000
United Arab Emirates		2,752,000
Malaysia	Malaysian Indian, Chitty, Tamil diaspora	2,700,000
Saudi Arabia		1,500,000
Sri Lanka	Tamil diaspora	855,888
Kuwait		500,000
Singapore	Indian Singaporean, Tamil diaspora	430,000
Oman		350,000
Qatar		175,000
Thailand		150,000
Bahrain		140,000
Philippines	Indian Filipino, Filipinos of Indian descent	125,000
Yemen		100,900
Indonesia	Indian Indonesian, Tamil diaspora	55,000
Hong Kong	South Asians in Hong Kong	50,500
Israel		45,300
Japan		16,400
Russia		16,044
Lebanon		11,025
People's Republic of China		10,000
Maldives		9,001
Brunei		7,600
Jordan		4,100
South Korea		2,700
Syria		1,800
Taiwan		1,800
Bhutan		1,500
Kazakhstan		1,127
Iran		800
Uzbekistan		690
Afghanistan		500
Tajikistan		400
Vietnam		320
Cambodia		300
Cyprus		300
Turkey		300
Azerbaijan		250
Armenia		200
Laos		125
Iraq		110
Kyrgyzstan		100
Mongolia		35
North Korea		5
Europe		6,300,000
United Kingdom	British Asian, Anglo-Indian	2,850,000
Netherlands	Hindoestanen	300,000
Italy		71,500
Portugal		70,000
France		70,000
Germany	Indian-Germans	35,000 - 100.000
Spain		29,000
Switzerland		13,500
Austria		11,945
Sweden		11,000
Belgium		7,000
Greece		7,000
Norway		5,630
Ukraine		3,400
Denmark		2,152
Republic of Ireland		1,600
Finland		1,170
Serbia		1,000
Poland		825
Romania		491
Czech Republic		420
Andorra		200
Slovakia		100
Belarus		70
Bulgaria		20
Croatia		10
Lithuania		5
Americas		5,327,860
United States	Indian American, South Asian American	2,479,424
Suriname	Hindoestanen	950,000
Canada	Indo-Canadian, Tamil Canadians	963,190
Trinidad and Tobago	Indo-Trinidadian, Indo-Caribbean	500,600
Guyana	Indo-Guyanese, Indo-Caribbean	395,350
Jamaica	Indo Jamaican, Indo-Caribbean	61,500
Guadeloupe	Indo-Caribbean	40,000
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	Indo-Caribbean	6,500
St. Lucia	Indo-Caribbean	4,700
Puerto Rico	Asian Latin American	4,500
Barbados	Indo-Caribbean	2,200
Panama	Indo-Caribbean	2,164
Guatemala	Indo-Canadian, Asian Latin American	2,000
Brazil	Asian Latin American	1,900
Argentina	Asian Latin American	1,600
Saint Kitts and Nevis	Indo-Caribbean	1,100
Uruguay	Indo-Uruguayans	200 - 300
Virgin Islands	Indo-Caribbean	900
Venezuela	Asian Latin American	690
Chile	Asian Latin American	650
Belize	Indo-Caribbean, Asian Latin American	500
Mexico	Asian Latin American	400
Peru	Asian Latin American	145
Colombia	Asian Latin American	20
Dominica	Indo-Caribbean	20
Costa Rica	Asian Latin American	16
Ecuador	Asian Latin American	5
Africa		2,784,182
South Africa	Indian South Africans, Asians in South Africa	1,163,900
Mauritius	Indo-Mauritian	800,000
Réunion	Indo-Réunionnaise	250,000
Kenya		102,500
Tanzania		90,000
Madagascar		30,000
Nigeria	Indian Language School1 2	25,000
Mozambique		21,000
Zambia		20,000
Zimbabwe		20,000
Libya		12,400
Uganda		12,000
Botswana	Indians in Botswana	9,000
Seychelles	Indo-Seychellois	5,000
Ghana		3,800
Eritrea		1,753
Sudan		1,500
Egypt		1,390
Ethiopia		734
Benin		450
Morocco		375
Burundi		300
Cote d'Ivoire		300
Djibouti		280
Cameroon		250
Gambia		135
Chad		125
Namibia		110
Tunisia		70
Comoros		50
Algeria		45
Angola		45
Guinea-Bissau		25
Senegal		21
Mali		20
Cape Verde		4
Oceania		731,070
Fiji	Indians in Fiji	470,000
Australia		190,000
New Zealand		70,000
Papua New Guinea		1,000
Vanuatu		50
Solomon Islands		20
Total Overseas Indian Population		30,936,172

Bollystan

As the Indian government's own Singhvi commission notes, "the sun never sets on the Indian diaspora." Yet the cultural transmission model is rapidly transforming from a one-way street, in which the Motherland gives and the diaspora receives, to a two-way street, in which the diaspora is as confidently Indian, sometimes more so, than India itself. Bollystan ("Bolly-" for Bollywood, and "Stan", the Persian suffix for "land" comprise this term) is a neologism which recognizes this changing balance of power between the home country and its diaspora. Technology has enabled the diaspora to manufacture "Indian-ness" as competently as their home-bound relatives through film, dance, music and even religious practices. These externally produced symbols of Indian-ness have in many ways become the primary representation of India in the West and around the world. The term was first used by Parag Khanna, when he guest edited the UK's ethnic lifestyle magazine Another Generation in Fall 2004 (www.anothergeneration-mag.com). The entire issue was based on the theme of Bollystan, This was subsequently then used in an article in The Globalist [5]. The London-based Foreign Policy Centre think-tank has also recognized Bollystan as a form of "diasporic diplomacy" [6]. In the January/February 2005 issue of Foreign Policy magazine, Mitra Kalita of the Washington Post writes, "Finally there is a name for where I live: Bollysthan." [7]

See also

• Asians in South Africa
• British Asian
• Burmese Indians
• Desi
• Elam
• Indian American
• Indians in Botswana
• Indian-Germans
• Indians in Singapore
• Indo-Caribbean
• Indo-Canadian
• Indo-Fijian
• Indo-Guyanese
• Indo-Mauritian
• Indo-Trinidadian
• Kamla Bhatt
• List of NRIs
• Mitanni
• Pravasi Bharatiya Samman
• Pravasi Bharatiya Divas
• Roma people
• Sinti
• South Asian American
• Hinduism by country

Pravasi Bharatiya Divas

Main article: Pravasi Bharatiya Divas

External Links

• Reassessing what we collect website - Indian London History of Indian London with objects and images

References

• List of NRI Organizations/ Commmunities in Different Countries

Sources

• NRI News
• Website for the Global Indian
• Tai Pucam in Malaysia
• Pravasi Bharatiya Divas
• NRI Divorce, relationship and other issues
• News, views and everything related to NRIs
• Property News for NRI
• Nri and Concierge Services in India