Rich Indians que up for golden visas: India’s diaspora — comprising persons of Indian origin and non-resident Indians — stands at 35.42 million as of May 2024, the largest expatriate population in the world. Spread across more than 200 countries, the Indian diaspora spans every continent and reflects both historical and contemporary patterns of migration. In a world population of 8.2 billion, India’s 1.46 billion citizens account for roughly 17.8%, but its diaspora plays a disproportionately influential role in global labour markets, remittance flows, and even geopolitics.
The first major wave of Indian emigration dates back to the 19th century, when the British Parliament abolished slavery in 1834. In its place, the system of indentured labour emerged — a halfway house between slavery and wage labour. Under this regime, Indian workers were transported to British colonies such as Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Burma, Trinidad and Tobago, and Mauritius. These workers were provided subsistence wages, food, shelter, and basic medical aid, but little else. By 1920, following public opposition and global scrutiny, the indenture system was formally abolished.
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Post-independence emigration resumed gradually after the Great Depression of the 1930s. Indian communities — particularly Gujaratis, Chettiars, and Punjabis — established businesses abroad, keeping commercial ties alive. The turning point came in the 1960s, when the United States liberalised its immigration policy, welcoming Indian doctors, engineers, scientists, and other professionals. This phase marked the beginning of brain drain but also deepened India’s human capital footprint in the West.
The Gulf boom and the rise of remittances
The most consequential wave began in the late 1970s, when oil-rich Gulf countries faced acute labour shortages. Thousands of skilled and semi-skilled workers from Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh migrated to countries such as the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait. These migrants—construction workers, electricians, nurses, housemaids—may not have held white-collar degrees, but their remittance patterns were transformative. Their earnings funded household consumption, education, healthcare, and small businesses back home.
This period also pushed the Indian government to rethink external sector policy. Facing a balance of payments crisis, policymakers introduced a series of reforms: partial convertibility of the rupee, liberalised exchange rate regimes, and eventually a move toward flexible exchange rates. These measures, combined with the globalisation-liberalisation wave of the 1990s, helped reduce hawala transactions and channel remittances through official banking systems.
India has since emerged as the world’s top recipient of inward remittances. Since 2008, it has consistently outpaced Mexico and China. In 2024, India received $129 billion in remittances—a figure unmatched globally.
New wave: Students, professionals, and the elite
The 1990s ushered in another significant stream of emigration—IT and knowledge professionals responding to the Y2K boom and global demand for tech talent. Since then, Indian talent has become integral to Silicon Valley, Wall Street, and even Whitehall. Simultaneously, there’s been a sharp rise in Indian students heading abroad for higher education. Today, Indian students form the second-largest cohort of international students in countries such as the US, Canada, UK, Australia, and New Zealand.
Studies suggest that Indian students are more likely than their Chinese counterparts to remain in their host countries post-graduation, contributing to their economies and professional sectors. An estimated 75,000 Indian-trained doctors currently work in OECD countries, alongside 640,000 Indian nurses.
This pattern of long-term settlement also has political and economic consequences. Indian-origin populations now play key roles in the politics of countries like the US, UK, and Canada, and dominate sectors ranging from medicine to retail.
Brain drain through golden visas
India’s early post-Independence years saw a reverse movement. Scientists like Homi Bhabha, Vikram Sarabhai, and economists such as K.N. Raj and P.C. Mahalanobis returned from abroad to help build modern India. Mahatma Gandhi, too, returned from South Africa. This nationalistic fervour also inspired scientists like C.V. Raman and J.C. Bose to work and teach in India.
But since the 1980s, the outbound flow has resumed with vigour. Despite the establishment of premier institutions like IITs and IIMs, many of their graduates chose opportunities abroad. Today, while India still sends out high-quality talent, the return flow remains modest.
The curious case of billionaires
Remittances are only part of the diaspora story. High Net-Worth Individuals (HNWIs) of Indian origin have invested in airports, automotive ventures, pharmaceuticals, and infrastructure projects across continents. Yet this global economic spread has a paradox. While India celebrates its start-up boom and rising unicorn count, many of its business leaders and their families are physically located abroad.
According to Sanjaya Baru’s recent book Secession of the Successful, this shift has profound implications. Western multinationals, he notes, tend to have owners and executives rooted in their home countries. India, by contrast, is seeing its billionaire class decamp to tax havens or countries offering golden visas. Since 2014, an estimated 23,000 dollar millionaires have left India. A tenth of all global golden visas—issued by countries like Portugal, the US, and the UAE—are reportedly purchased by Indians.
The price tag? A golden visa in the US today costs $5 million.
Why India’s rich are leaving
Unlike earlier waves of emigration driven by poverty or lack of opportunity, today’s exodus of India’s middle and upper classes is driven by pull factors: easier business norms, stable tax regimes, better education for children, and cleaner governance. India’s high GDP growth since 2003–04 has coincided with policy reforms that encouraged entrepreneurship, but crony capitalism, regulatory harassment, and a selective application of “ease of doing business” have alienated many entrepreneurs.
The gap between rhetoric and reality—particularly regarding red tape, tax uncertainty, and enforcement excesses—has made overseas citizenship and investment more attractive.
The Indian diaspora today is bifurcated. On one side are the brainy professionals—engineers, scientists, researchers—who shape global technology and innovation. On the other are the super-rich—family business scions, fintech founders, real estate tycoons—who retain commercial interests in India but prefer the comforts and securities of a life abroad.
Sanjaya Baru’s analysis calls for a more nuanced view of the diaspora—not just as remitters or brand ambassadors, but as economic and political agents whose actions shape both home and host countries. India’s challenge is to retain the talent it produces, incentivise return migration, and rebuild the trust of those who have the means—but not the desire—to call India home again.
Dr Ravindran AM is an economist based in Kochi. He has more than three decades of academic and research experience with institutions such as CUSAT, Central University of Kerala, Cabinet Secretariat - New Delhi, and Directorate of Higher Education Pondicherry.