Africa Madagascar Indians in
Madagascar are descended mostly from traders who arrived in 19th century looking for better opportunities. The majority of them came from the Indian west coast state of
Gujarat and were known as
Karana (Muslim) and
Bania (Hindu). The majority speak
Gujarati, though some other Indian languages are spoken. Nowadays, the younger generations speak at least three languages; these languages include French or English, Gujarati and
Malagasy.
Mauritius The people are known as
Indo-Mauritians, and form about 65.8% of the population. The majority of them are
Hindu (73.7%) and a significant group are
Muslims (26.3%). Mauritius is the only Hindu majority (48.5%) country of
Africa according to the 2011 census. There are also a relatively small number of
Baháʼís and
Sikhs. The
mother tongue of Indo-Mauritians is
Creole, as well as French and English in general fields, however various Indian languages are still spoken, especially
Bhojpuri,
Tamil,
Hindi,
Marathi,
Odia,
Telugu, and
Urdu as they are used in religious activities. Mauritius hosts the
Aapravasi Ghat, the only site of UNESCO in the world, to pay homage to the memory of
indenture. The Indian Festivals of
Maha Shivaratri,
Diwali,
Thaipusam,
Ponggal,
Ganesh Chaturthi and
Ugadi are all National Holidays as well as the Annual Commemoration of the Arrival of Indian Indentured Labourers in Mauritius.
Réunion Indians make up a quarter of Réunion's population. Most originally came as
indentured workers from
Tamil Nadu.
South Africa , an
Indian South African descent who served as the
U.N High Commissioner for Human Rights. 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 on the
sugar cane plantations of what is now the province of
KwaZulu-Natal (KZN). The majority are of
Tamil speaking heritage along with people that speak
Hindi or
Bhojpuri, mostly descending from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. There are also smaller numbers of
Telugu speaking communities while a minority are descended from Indian traders who migrated to South Africa at around the same time, many from Gujarat. The city of
Durban has the highest number of Asians in sub-Saharan Africa, and the Indian independence leader Mahatma Gandhi worked as a lawyer in the country in the early 1900s. South Africa has one of the highest number of people of Indian descent outside of India in the world, i.e. born in South Africa and not migrant. Most of them are fourth or fifth-generation descendants. Most Indian South Africans do not speak any Indian languages, as they were 'lost' over the generations, although some do enjoy watching Indian movies and listening to
Indian music, and they maintain (and have had imposed upon them) a strong
Indian racial identity as a consequence of the legacy of
Apartheid.
East Africa of
Indo-Kenyan descent is a notable Oscar-winning actor , lead singer and co-founder of the immensely successful rock band
Queen, was of
Parsi descent born in
Zanzibar. 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 and
Malabar) travelled regularly to South East Africa, especially Zanzibar. It is believed that they travelled in Arab
dhows,
Maratha Navy ships (under
Kanhoji Angre), and possibly Chinese junks and Portuguese vessels. Some of these people settled in South-East Africa and later spread to places like present day Uganda, and Mozambique. 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, Mauritius, South Africa, and Tanzania began nearly a century ago when these parts of the continent were under British and French colonial rule. Most of these migrants were of Gujarati or
Punjabi origin. There are almost three million Indians living in South-East Africa. 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 professionals, such as doctors, teachers, engineers, also played an important part in the development of these countries. , an Indian‑origin entrepreneur active in African markets with residence in Africa. Over the decades, South Asian communities also became closely linked to commercial activity in the region. Many established trading networks that connected coastal ports with inland markets, while others developed small and medium‑sized enterprises that supported local economies. Their involvement expanded into areas such as retail, transport, manufacturing, and later investment, contributing to the growth of both urban and rural economic sectors. This commercial presence has continued into the modern era, with Indian‑origin businesses remaining active across Africa and participating in a wide range of economic activities.
Asia East Asia Japan Indians in Japan consist of migrants from India to Japan and their descendants. , There are currently around 40,000 Indians living in Japan. Roughly 60% consist of expatriate IT professionals and their families.
South Asia Nepal Estimates of the Indian population in Nepal vary between 300,000 and 700,000.This diaspora is concentrated in the Terai region, as well as in urban centers like Kathmandu, Biratnagar, and Birganj.Indian migration to Nepal dates back centuries, during the Malla and Shah dynasties, trade routes connected Nepal with northern India, encouraging settlement of Indian merchants and artisans. The most prominent group, the Marwaris from Rajasthan, migrated in the 19th century, invited by the Rana rulers. They established themselves as traders and financiers. Other communities, including Punjabis, Bengalis, and Muslims, also migrated during the colonial era.The 1950 Indo-Nepali open border treaty granted citizens of both nations reciprocal rights of residence, property ownership, trade, and movement.
Southeast Asia Indonesia , founder of
Indorama Corporation and sixth richest person in Indonesia according to Forbes is an
Indian Indonesian film and television producer and owner of the biggest production house in Indonesia. The official figures, it is estimated that there are around 125,000 Indians living in Indonesia and 25,000 PIOs/NRIs living in Indonesia of which the Indian expatriate community registered with the embassy and consulate in
Medan numbers around 5,000-7,000 people. Most are from Tamil descendants. Indians have been living in Indonesia for centuries, from the time of the
Srivijaya and
Majapahit Empire both of which were Hindu and heavily influenced by the subcontinent. Indians were later 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 of India. 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 into Indonesian society, though some elements of the Tamil, Punjabi and
Odia 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 businesses. 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. 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; it is estimated that the population of Jakarta's Indian community is about 19,000. There are six main social or professional associations in Jakarta's Indian PIO/NRI community. 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 organisation 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, 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 it has been largely inactive. Finally, there is the Indonesian Chapter of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI).
Malaysia of women's squash, Malaysia's
Nicol David, is of
Chindian descent. Malaysia has one of the world's largest overseas Indian and overseas Chinese populations. Most Indians migrated to Malaysia as plantation labourers under British rule. They are a significant minority ethnic group, making up 8% or 2,410,000 as 2017 of the Malaysian population. 85% of these people are Tamil-speaking. They have retained their languages and religion – 88% of ethnic Indians in Malaysia identify as Hindus. A minority number of the population are Sikhs and Muslims. There is also a small community of Indian origin, the
Chitty, who are the descendants of only Tamil traders who had emigrated before 1500 CE. Considering themselves Tamil, speaking Malay, and practicing Hinduism, the Chittys number about 200,000 today.
Philippines Currently, there are over 150,000 people of Indian origin residing in Philippines. By law,
Indian Filipinos are defined as
Philippine citizens of Indian descent. India and the Philippines have historic cultural and economic ties going back over 3,000 years.
Iron Age finds in the Philippines point to the existence of trade between Tamil Nadu in
South India and what are today the Philippine Islands during the ninth and tenth centuries BCE. The influence of
Indian culture on
Filipino cultures intensified from the 2nd through the late 14th centuries CE, impacting various fields such as language, politics, and religion. During the
Seven Years' War, Indians from
Chennai, and Tamil Nadu were part of the
British expedition against
Spanish Manila, taking the city from the
Spanish East Indies government and occupying the surrounding areas until
Caintâ and
Morong (today in
Rizal province) between 1762 and 1763. Following the end war's end, a number of Indian soldiers mutinied, settled, and married local
Tagalog women. These
Sepoy Indians still have descendants in the town today.
Singapore is a former
Singapore international footballer and currently the head coach of
S.League club
Tampines Rovers. Indian Singaporeans – defined as persons of
South Asian paternal
ancestry – form 9% of the country's citizens and permanent residents, making them
Singapore's third largest ethnic group. Among cities, Singapore has one of the largest overseas Indian populations. Although contact with ancient India left a deep cultural impact on Singapore's indigenous
Malay society, the mass migration of ethnic Indians to the island only began with the
founding of modern Singapore by the British in 1819. Initially, the Indian population was transient, mainly comprising young men who came as workers, soldiers and convicts. By the mid-20th century, a settled community had emerged, with a more balanced
gender ratio and a better
spread of age groups. Tamil is one among the four official languages of Singapore alongside English, Chinese and Malay. Singapore's Indian population is notable for its
class stratification, with disproportionately large
elite and
lower income groups. This long-standing problem has grown more visible since the 1990s with an influx of both well-educated and unskilled migrants from India, and as part of growing
income inequality in Singapore. Indians earn
higher incomes than Malays, the other major minority group. Indians are also significantly more likely to hold university degrees than these groups. However, the mainly locally born Indian students in public primary and secondary schools under-perform the national average at major examinations. Singapore Indians are linguistically and religiously diverse, with South Indians and Hindus forming majorities. Indian culture has endured and evolved over almost 200 years. By the mid to late 20th century, it had become somewhat distinct from contemporary South Asian cultures, even as Indian elements became diffused within a broader
Singaporean culture. Since the 1990s, new Indian immigrants have increased the size and complexity of the local Indian population. Together with modern communications like
cable television and the
Internet, this has connected Singapore with an emerging global Indian culture. Prominent Indian individuals have long made a mark in Singapore as leaders of various fields in national life. Indians are also collectively well-represented, and sometimes over-represented, in areas such as
politics,
education,
diplomacy and the
law. There is also a small community of Indian origin, the
Chitty, who are the descendants of Tamil traders who had emigrated before 1500 CE. Considering themselves Tamil, speaking Tamil, and practice Hinduism, the Chittys number about 2,000 today.
West Asia Armenia There are over 28,000 Indian citizens in
Armenia, including those who are seeking permanent residence status in Armenia, as recorded in 2018. In the first half of 2018, 10,237 Indians crossed Armenia's borders, and more than 2,000 were seeking permanent residence status.
Israel The
Bene Israel (, "Sons of Israel") are an ancient group of
Jews who migrated in the 18th century from villages in the Konkan area to nearby Indian cities, primarily
Mumbai, but also to
Pune, and
Ahmedabad. In the second half of the 20th century, most of them
emigrated to Israel, where they now number about 85,000. The native language of the Bene Israel is
Judæo-Marathi, a form of Marathi. Another prominent community that migrated to Israel after its creation were the Jews of
Cochin, in Kerala (
Cochin Jews) – a community with a very long history. They are known to have been granted protection by the king of the
Princely State of Cochin. The earliest Jews in this region, as per local tradition, date to as early as 379 CE. The community was a mix of native Jews (called "Black Jews"), and European Jews (called "White Jews") who had emigrated to Cochin after the successive European conquests of Cochin. The Jewish community of Cochin spoke a variant of
Malayalam, called
Judeo-Malayalam. The community, after the creation of Israel, saw a mass exodus from Cochin, and is presently facing extinction in India. Still another group of Indians to arrive in Israel belong to the
Bnei Menashe ("Children of
Menasseh", Hebrew בני מנשה) a group of more than 10,000 people from India's
North-Eastern border states of
Manipur and
Mizoram, who claim descent from one of the
Lost Tribes of Israel, and of whom about 3,700 now live in Israel (some of them in
Israeli settlements on the
West Bank). Linguistically, Bnei Menashe are
Tibeto-Burmans and belong to the
Mizo,
Kuki and
Chin peoples (the terms are virtually interchangeable). The move to convert them to Judaism and bring them to Israel is politically controversial in both India and Israel.
Persian Gulf Indians command a dominant majority of the population
Persian Gulf countries. After the 1970s oil boom in the
Middle East, numerous Indians from
Kerala emigrated, taking advantage of close historical ties with the 'Gulf' as well as the lack of ample skilled labour from nearby
Africa and the
Middle East. Major urban centres such as
Dubai,
Abu Dhabi,
Doha,
Riyadh,
Muscat,
Baghdad,
Kuwait, and
Manama were experiencing a development boom and thousands of Indians laboured in construction industries. This work was done on a contractual basis rather than permanently, and working age men continued to return home every few years. This has remained the dominant pattern as the countries in the Persian Gulf, especially
United Arab Emirates,
Bahrain,
Qatar and
Kuwait have a common policy of not naturalising non-Arabs, even if they are born there. The Persian Gulf region has provided incomes many times over for the same type of job in India and has geographical proximity to India, and these incomes are free of taxation. The NRIs make up a good proportion of the working class in the
Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). NRI population in these
GCC countries is estimated to be around 20 million, of which a quarter is resident in the
United Arab Emirates (UAE). In 2005, about 75% of the population in the UAE was of Indian descent. The majority originate from Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Karnataka, and Goa. Similarly, Indians are the single largest nationality in Qatar, representing around 85% of the total population as of 2014. They also form majorities in Bahrain, Kuwait, and Oman. Since the early 2000s, significant number of Indians have reached the region, taking up high skill jobs in business and industry. Major Indian corporations maintain solid regional presence there while some are headquartered there. There is a huge population of NRIs in West Asia, most coming from
Kerala and
Andhra Pradesh. They work as engineers, doctors, lawyers, labourers and in clerical jobs. Unlike in Europe and America, most of the countries in West Asia do not grant
citizenship or permanent residency to these Indians, however long they might live there. They have a minority in Saudi Arabia. The NRI population tends to save and remit considerable amounts to their dependents in India. It is estimated such remittances may be over US$10 billion per annum (including remittances by formal and informal channels in 2007–2008). The relative ease with which people can travel to their home country means that many NRIs in the Gulf and West Asia maintain close links to Indian culture, with people often travelling twice or thrice a year, especially during holiday period, while some live in India for several months each year. Satellite television allows many NRIs to consume Indian media and entertainment, and there are TV soaps aimed at the NRI community in the Gulf countries. Live performances and cultural events, such as
Tiarts for Goans living in UAE, occur quite often and are staged by community groups.
Caribbean From 1838 to 1917, over half a million Indians from the former
British India were brought to the
Caribbean as
indentured labourers to address the demand for labour following the
abolition of slavery. The first two ships arrived in
British Guiana (now
Guyana) on 5 May 1838. The majority of the Indians living in the
English-speaking Caribbean and
Suriname migrated from the
Bhojpur region in present-day eastern
Uttar Pradesh, western
Bihar and northwestern
Jharkhand and the
Awadh region in eastern Uttar Pradesh, while a significant minority came from
South India. Most of the Indians brought to
Guadeloupe,
Martinique,
Saint Lucia and
French Guiana were mostly from
Tamil Nadu,
Andhra Pradesh,
Telangana, and other parts of South India. A minority emigrated from other parts of South Asia. Other Indo-Caribbean people are descend from or are later migrants, including Indian doctors, businessmen, and other professionals. Many of them being of
Sindhi,
Punjabi,
MarathiGujarati,
Kutchi,
Bengali,
Tamil, and
Telugu origin. Many Indo-Caribbean people have further migrated and settled to other countries, such as the
United States,
Canada, the
United Kingdom, the
Netherlands, and
France, with sizable populations in the
metropolitan areas of
New York,
Toronto,
Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach,
Orlando-
Ocala,
Minneapolis–Saint Paul,
Tampa Bay,
Winnipeg,
Montreal,
Vancouver,
Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land,
Washington, D.C.,
Schenectady,
Calgary,
London,
Rotterdam-Den Haag, and
Amsterdam. Indo-Caribbean people are the largest ethnic group in Guyana, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago. They are the second largest group in Jamaica, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and other countries. There are small populations of them in Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, French Guiana, Grenada, Panama, Guatemala, St. Lucia, Haiti, Martinique, Guadeloupe, and the Netherlands Antilles.
Europe Netherlands and Suriname There are around 120,000 people of Indian origin in the Netherlands, 90% of whom migrated from the former Dutch colony of Suriname, where their forefathers were brought as workers to farm and tend to crops in the former Dutch colonies. Indo-Surinamese are nationals of Suriname of Indian or other South Asian ancestry. After the Dutch government signed a treaty with the United Kingdom on the recruitment of contract workers, Indians began migrating to Suriname in 1873 from what was then British India as indentured labourers, many from the modern-day Indian states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and the surrounding regions. Just before and just after the independence of Suriname on 25 November 1975 many Indo-Surinamese emigrated to the Netherlands. During the heyday of British rule in India, many people from India were sent to other British colonies for work. In the Dutch colony of Suriname, the Dutch were allowed by the British Raj to recruit labourers in certain parts of the North-Indian United Provinces. Today, Europe's largest Hindu temple is currently situated in
The Hague.
United Kingdom is a notable Indian-born
British Indian actress, food and travel writer, and television personality. , the first British Indian (non-white)
Leader of the Conservative Party and
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (2022–2024) The Indian emigrant community in the United Kingdom is now in its third generation. Indians in the UK are the largest community outside of
Asia proportionally, and the second largest in terms of population, only surpassed by the United States, and closely followed by Canada. The first wave of Indians in the United Kingdom worked as manual labourers and were not respected within society. However, this has changed considerably. On the whole, third and fourth generation immigrants are proving to be very successful, especially in the fields of law, business and medicine. Indian culture has been constantly referenced within the 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. The
United Kingdom Census 2011 recorded 1,451,862 people of Indian ethnicity resident in the UK (not including those who categorised themselves as of mixed ethnicity). Hindus comprise 49% of the British Indian population, Sikhs 22.1%, Muslims 13.9%, Christians nearly 10%, with the remainder made up of Jains (15,000), Parsis (Zoroastrians), and Buddhists. There are 2,360,000 people currently speaking Indian languages in the United Kingdom.
Punjabi is now the second most widely spoken language in the United Kingdom, and the most frequently spoken language among school pupils who do not have English as a first language.
Rishi Sunak became the first British Indian (non-white)
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in October 2022.
Ukraine Ukraine has become a significant destination for Indian students, particularly in the field of medicine. As of early 2022, over 18,000 Indian students were enrolled in Ukrainian universities, making up one of the largest international student communities in the country. The
COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent
Russia Ukraine conflict in 2022 brought global attention to this population, culminating in India’s evacuation mission known as
Operation Ganga, which successfully repatriated thousands of stranded Indian nationals. The student diaspora in Ukraine has also found reflection in contemporary literature. One such example is
The Life of Tolka, a memoir by Indian doctor and author Dr. Nitin Chopra, which captures the emotional, academic, and cultural journey of Indian medical students navigating life in
Eastern Europe.
North America combined statistical area is home to by far the largest Indian population in the United States, with over 700,000 (7 lakhs) enumerated at the
2020 U.S. census Search terms can be confusing, because some of the
indigenous people of the Americas are referred to, either legally or informally, as Indians. See for example
Indian Act,
Indian Register,
Indian reserves.
Canada , is an
Indian Canadian politician and former
lieutenant colonel with the Canadian Armed Forces. He served as the
Minister of National Defence from 2015 to 2021. , known by her
YouTube username "IISuperwomanII", is a popular
YouTube personality of Indian origin. , from 2015 to 2021,
Navdeep Bains is one of the most successful
Indo-Canadian politicians According to
Statistics Canada, via the
2021 Canadian census, 1,858,755 persons classified themselves as being of Indian origin, comprising approximately 5.1% of the total Canadian population. Unlike in India, however, representation of various minority religious groups is much higher amongst the Indo-Canadian population. For instance in India, Sikhs comprise 2% and Christians 2.2% of the population of India, Hindus 80% and Muslims 14%. In 2011,
Sikhs represented 35%,
Hindus represented 28%,
Muslims 17%,
Christians 16% of the total people of Indian origin in Canada. A Punjabi community has existed in British Columbia, Canada, for over 120 years. The first known Indian settlers in Canada were
Indian Army soldiers who had passed through Canada in 1897 on their way home from attending
Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee celebration in London, England. Some are believed to have remained in
British Columbia and others returned there later. Punjabi Indians were attracted to the possibilities for farming and forestry. They were mainly male
Sikhs who were seeking work opportunities.
Indo-Caribbeans, descendants of the Indian indentured workers who had gone to the Caribbean since 1838, made an early appearance in Canada with the arrival of the
Trinidadian medical student Kenneth Mahabir and the Demerara (now Guyana) clerk M N Santoo, both in 1908. The first Indian immigrants in British Columbia allegedly faced widespread
racism from the majority
Anglo community.
Race riots 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. Immigration was then based on a point system, thus allowing many more Indians to enter. Since this open-door policy was adopted, Indians 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 emigrate to larger urban centres like Toronto and Vancouver, where more than 60% live. Smaller communities are also growing in Calgary, Edmonton, Montreal, and Winnipeg. A place called
Little India exists in South Vancouver and a section of
Gerrard Street in Toronto as well. Indians in Vancouver live mainly in the suburb of
Surrey, or nearby
Abbotsford but are also found in other parts of Vancouver. The vast majority of Vancouver Indians are of Punjabi Sikh origin and have taken significant roles in politics and other professions, with several
Supreme Court justices, three
attorneys general and one provincial premier hailing from the community. Both
Gurmant Grewal and his wife
Nina Grewal were the first married couple in Canada to be concurrently elected as
Member of Parliament in 2004. The most read newspaper in the Indian community is
The Asian Star and
The Punjabi Star based in Vancouver started by an immigrant from Mumbai-Shamir Doshi. The
Greater Toronto Area contains the second largest population of Indian descent in North America, enumerating 572,250 residents of Indian origin as of 2011, surpassed only by the 592,888 estimate by the 2011 American Community Survey (and 659,784 in 2013) for the New York City
Combined Statistical Area. Note, however, that the Toronto count (but not the New York count) includes individuals of
West Indian/Indo-Caribbean descent. Compared to the Vancouver area, Toronto's Indian community is much more linguistically and religiously diverse with large communities of
Gujaratis,
Bengalis,
Malayalis, and
Tamils, including Tamil ethnic minority from Sri Lanka, as well as more Indians who are
Hindu,
Sikh and
Muslim than Vancouver. From Toronto, Canadian carrier
Air Canada operates non-stop flights to Delhi and Mumbai.
United States File:Bhardwaj usn2001.jpg|
Mohini Bhardwaj was a member of the
US Gymnastic Women's Team at the
2004 Summer Olympics, which earned a silver medal in
women's artistic team all-around competition and is a member of USA Gymnastics Hall of Fame. She is the second
Indian American Olympic medalist. File:Raj Bhavsar.jpg|
Raj Bhavsar was a member of
US Gymnastic Men's Team at
2008 Summer Olympics that earned a bronze medal in
men's artistic team all-around competition. He is the third American Olympic medalist of
Indian ancestry File:Ram RG18 (9) (28110272897).jpg|
Team USA's
Rajeev Ram won a silver medal in
Mixed doubles Tennis at
2016 Summer Olympics with
Venus Williams, the fourth American athlete of Indian ancestry, to win an Olympic medal. File:Kalpana Chawla, NASA photo portrait in orange suit.jpg|
Kalpana Chawla was the first
Indian American astronaut. The United States has the largest Indian population in the world outside Asia. Indian immigration to North America started as early as the 1890s. Emigration to the United States also started in the late 19th and early 20th century, when
Sikhs arriving in Vancouver found that the fact that they were subjects of the British Empire did not mean anything in Canada itself, and they were blatantly discriminated against. Some of these pioneers entered the US 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. Asian women were restricted from immigrating because the US government passed laws in 1917, at the behest of California and other states in the west, which had experienced a large influx of Chinese, Japanese, and Indian immigrants during and after the gold rush. As a result, many of the South Asian men in California married Mexican women. A fair number of these families settled 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
Supreme Court of the United States, in
United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind, ruled that people from India (at the time, British India, e.g. South Asians) were ineligible for citizenship.
Bhagat Singh Thind was a
Sikh from India who settled in Oregon; he had applied earlier for citizenship and was rejected there. Thind became a citizen a few years later in New York. After World War II, US immigration policy changed, after almost a half century, to allow family re-unification for people of non-white origin. In addition, Asians were allowed to become citizens and to vote. Many men who arrived before the 1940s were finally able to bring their families to the US; most of them in this earlier era settled in California and other west coast states. Another wave of Indian immigrants entered the US after independence of India. A large proportion of them were Sikhs joining their family members under the newly more (though not completely) colour-blind immigration laws, then Malayali immigrants from Middle East, Kerala, etc. and professionals or students came from all over India. The Cold War created a need for engineers in the defence and aerospace industries, some of whom came from India. By the late 1980s and early 1990s, large numbers of
Gujarati,
Telugu, and
Tamil people had settled in the US. The most recent and probably the largest wave of immigration to date occurred in the late 1990s and early 2000s during the
internet boom. As a result, Indians in the US are now one of the largest among the groups of immigrants with an estimated population of about 3.2 million, or ~1.0% of the US population according to
American Community Survey of 2010 data. The demographics of Indian Americans have accordingly changed from majority Sikh to majority Hindu, with Sikhs only comprising 10% to 20% of Indian Americans today. This is much smaller than the proportion of Sikhs amongst the Indian populations in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, but larger than in India. In 2018, with 25% of the population of all non-resident migrants in the US, Indians made up the highest number of non-resident migrants (those without US citizenship or
green card). The
US Census Bureau uses the term Asian Indian to avoid confusion with the
indigenous peoples of the Americas commonly referred to as American Indians. In contrast to the earliest groups of Indians who entered the US just thinking how much money I can carry from India to workforce as taxi drivers, labourers, farmers, or small business owners, the later arrivals often came as professionals or completed graduate studies in the US and moved into professional occupations. They have become very successful financially thanks to highly technical industries, and are thus probably 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 84,000 Indianborn students in American universities in 2007–08. The American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin has a membership of 35,000. In 2000,
Fortune magazine estimated the wealth generated by Indian
Silicon Valley entrepreneurs at around $250 billion. Many IT companies like
Google,
Microsoft,
Adobe and
IBM have CEOs of Indian origin. an
Monroe Township,
Middlesex County,
New Jersey housing tracts in 2010. Since then, significant new housing construction is rendering an increasingly
affluent and
suburban environment to Monroe Township, while maintaining the proximity to
New York City sought by Indians in this township with the fastest-growing Indian population in the
Western Hemisphere.
Patel Brothers is the world's large supermarket chain serving the
Indian diaspora, with 57 locations in 19 U.S. states—primarily located in the
New Jersey/New York Metropolitan Area, due to its large
Indian population, and with the
East Windsor/Monroe Township,
New Jersey location representing the world's largest and busiest Indian grocery store outside India. The
New York City Metropolitan Area, including
Manhattan,
Queens, and
Nassau County in
New York State, and most of
New Jersey, is home to, by far, the largest Indian population in the United States, estimated at 679,173 as of 2014. Though the Indian diaspora in the US is largely concentrated in metropolitan areas surrounding cities such as New York City, Washington D.C., Boston, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, and San Francisco – almost every metropolitan area in the United States has a community of Indians.
Oceania Australia At the 2016 Australian census, 619,164 people stated that they had Indian ancestry, of which 455,389 were born in India, with people from India making up the third largest immigrant population in the country and the second most popular country of origin for new migrants from 2016. Before roads and road transport were developed, many Indians had come to Australia to run
camel trains. They would transport goods and mail via camels 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. Indians also entered Australia in the first half of the 20th century when both Australia and India were both British colonies. Indian Sikhs came to work on the banana plantations in Southern Queensland. Today many of them live in the town of
Woolgoolga (a town lying roughly halfway 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 has a museum dedicated to Sikhism. Many 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 1970s and 1980s after the abolition of the
White Australia policy in 1973 with many Indian teachers, doctors and other professional public service occupations settling in Australia accompanied by many IT professionals. After successive military coups in Fiji of 1987 and 2000, a significant number of Fijian-Indians migrated to Australia; as such there is a large Fijian-Indian population in Australia. Fijian-Indians have significantly changed the character of the Indian community in Australia. While most earlier Indian migration was by educated professionals, the Fijian-Indian community was also largely by professionals but also brought many small business owners and entrepreneurs. The current wave of Indian migration is that of engineers, toolmakers, Gujarati business families from East Africa and relatives of settled Indians. Starved of government funding, Australian education institutes are recruiting full fee paying overseas students. Many universities have permanent representatives stationed in India and other Asian countries. Their efforts have been rewarded with a new influx of Indian students entering Australia. The total number of student visas granted to Indian students for 2006–2007 was 34,136; a significant rise from 2002 to 2003, when 7,603 student visas were granted to Indian students. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, 87% of Indians residing in Australia are under the age of 50, and over 83% are proficient in English.
Fiji Indo-Fijians are Fijians whose ancestors came mainly from
Uttar Pradesh and
Bihar, while a very small minority hailed from
Andhra Pradesh and
Tamil Nadu. Later on, a small population of
Gujaratis,
Punjabis and
Bengalis emigrated to
Fiji. They number (37.6%) (2007 census) out of a total of people living in Fiji. They are mostly descended from indentured labourers,
girmitiyas or
girmit, brought to the islands by the British colonial government of Fiji between 1879 and 1916 to work on Fiji's sugar cane plantations. Music has featured prominently in Indo-Fijian culture, with a distinctive genre emerging in the first decades of the 20th century that some claim influenced early jazz musicians. One of the Indo-Fijian jazz pioneers in the early evolution of this distinct ethnic art-form, Ravinda Banjeeri, likened the struggle to be heard through music as "like a bear emerging from a dark wood, listening to twigs snapping in an otherwise silent forest". The Indo-Fijians have fought for equal rights, although with only limited success. Many have left Fiji in search of better living conditions and social justice and this exodus has gained pace with the series of coups starting in the late 1980s.
Sir Vijay Singh CF Professional Indo-Fijian golfer
Vijay Singh who has won PGA & European tours, and Asia Circuit. In 2004, Singh had one of the best seasons in the history of golf, winning nine times including the
PGA Championship, overtaking
Tiger Woods as the #1 golfer in the world.
Sir Anand Satyanand 19th Governor-General of New Zealand born in Auckland to Indo-Fijian parents, both of his parents were born in Fiji.
New Zealand ,
Anand Satyanand, is of Indian descent. Indians began to arrive in New Zealand in the late eighteenth century, mostly as crews on
Royal Navy warships. The earliest known Indians to set foot in Aotearoa New Zealand were Muslim lascars who arrived in December 1769 on the ship
Saint Jean Baptiste captained by Frenchman Jean François Marie de Surville sailing from Pondicherry, India. Their arrival marks the beginning of Indian presence in New Zealand, in which hundreds of unnamed South Asian lascars visited New Zealand on European ships in order to procure timber and seal skins. Numbers slowly increased through the 19th and 20th centuries, despite a law change in 1899 that was designed to keep out people who were not of "British birth and parentage". As in many other countries, Indians in New Zealand, also called "Indo-Kiwis", 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 and the Punjab. Changes in immigration policy in the 1980s allowed many more Indians, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis into the country. Today, South Asians from all over the subcontinent live and work in New Zealand, with small numbers involved in both local and national politics. Notable Indian New Zealanders include former
Dunedin mayor
Sukhi Turner, cricketers
Dipak Patel and
Jeetan Patel, singer
Aaradhna, Minister
Priyanca Radhakrishnan and former
Governor General Anand Satyanand. ==Diaspora by state and ethnolinguistic regions of India==