Nikki Haley (L); Rishi Sunak (C); and Priti Patel (R) are notable foreign politicians with Indian origins.
Credit: Reuters Photos
Hubballi: Nearly 261 elected representatives in foreign countries have their roots in India.
There are 29 countries which have elected representatives with Indian origin. Mauritius (45) has the highest number of Indian-origin elected representatives among foreign governments, followed by Guyana (33), the United Kingdom (31), and France (24).
According to a written reply to Rajya Sabha MP Satnam Singh Sandhu, the Ministry of External Affairs states that: “People of Indian origins have emerged to occupy prominent positions in politics, public administration, and international organisations in countries across the world. This has helped promote India’s interests and its position on global platforms, thus benefiting both India and the respective countries of such leaders from the Indian Diaspora. All this have a cumulative impact on bilateral trade and investment flows into India, which has grown steadily over the years.”
Canada also witnessed a record number of 22 Indian-origin politicians entering the House of Commons. This is an increase from the 17 MPs who were in the previous Canadian government. Suriname, a South American country, has 21 such representatives with Indian descendents, followed by Trinidad & Tobago (18), Malaysia, and Fuji (17 each). The United State of America has six elected representatives with Indian origin.
Indians everywhere
There are over 3.43 crore Indians who have settled in nearly 204 countries (United Nations has 195 member countries plus two non-member observer states of Vatican City and Palestine). Only three countries in the world-- Cuba, Pakistan and San Marino—do not have either a person with Indian origin (PIOs) or a non-resident Indian (NRIs).
According to the Indian government, as of January 2025, there were 1,71,81,071 PIOs and 1,71,75,122 NIRs in these countries.
The United States of America has the highest Indian diaspora at 56.93 lakh. There are nearly 37.75 lakh PIOs and 19.18 lakh NRIs in USA followed by United Arab Emirates with 38.90 lakh, Canada (36.11 lakh), Malaysia (29.35 lakh), Saudi Arabia (27.47 lakh), Sri Lanka (16.07 lakh), South Africa (13.92 lakh), United Kingdom (13.33 lakh), and Australia (9.76 lakh).
While Malaysia, Canada, South Africa , Australia, Mauritius, Sri Lanka, the United Kingdom, and Trinidad & Tobago have the highest number of people with Indian origins, the West Asian countries, German, Singapore, and Nepal have higher NRIs.