Why India's diaspora is so powerful

every now and then someone of Indian origin wins a position of power around the world it happened earlier this year when Ajay Banger became head of the World Bank it happened last year when Rishi sunak became prime minister in Britain it got me wondering is a diaspora really that powerful or are these just one-off examples [Music] and I'm International correspondent at The Economist there are 280 million migrants around the world about 18 million of them come from India that makes it the world's largest diaspora but it's not just the size of the Indian diaspora that makes it so powerful it's the massive span of countries that they have moved to there's lots of Indians living in the Middle East in countries like Saudi Arabia and the UAE working in construction and Hospitality reporting in Kenya a few years ago I was really struck by the number of business people I met who were of Indian origin some of these people were third fourth generation Indians but they still visited India they still seem to have a little Community there in Nairobi and they all seem to still hold on to their Indian roots and perhaps most importantly for the power of the Indian diaspora there's lots of Indians Living in America Australia throughout Europe foreign working with some academics at the Johns Hopkins University in Washington DC to try to quantify the power of the diaspora we looked at S P 500 companies and the chief Executives there we found that currently there are probably 25 people of Indian origin leading S P 500 companies that's up from just 11 a decade ago similarly we looked at the legislatures in Britain the US in Australia and Singapore and there too there were very large number of people on Indian origin it's not surprising that the Indian diaspora is so powerful India has all the ingredients to be a top exporter of talent it's got a large population an English-speaking Elite and really good higher education for the select few who get in a smart and successful Indian diaspora is an important tie between Western countries and India at a time when the post-war liberal order is being tested when China and Russia are really facing up to the West is incredibly important for Western countries to keep up this relationship with India every time Prime Minister Modi makes a trip somewhere overseas you really see that so last month in Australia for example I remember watching Prime Minister Modi speaking in front of thousands and thousands of Indian Australians up on stage with him was his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese I said to my friend the prime minister to beat the welcome the Prime Minister Modi has got the Prime Minister from Australia was not going to miss his moment to speak in front of the Indian Community there prime minister whatever's been happening recently with some democratic backsliding this is a large Democratic country that is growing fast and doing well Mr Modi heads to America soon there'll probably be another big Jamboree with the diaspora there it will be further proof that Mr Modi needs that diaspora and Western leaders need them too thanks for watching if you'd like to read more of our coverage of Foreign Affairs please click the link and don't forget to subscribe [Music]

Channel: The Economist

Views: 758,293

Keywords: economist films, the economist, economist videos, The Economist, Economist, Economist Films, Economist Videos, Politics, News, short-documentary, narendra modi, india, prime minister of india, pm of india, pm narendra modi, narendra modi youtube, prime minister narendra modi, indian

Id: cCGQ-oAUCpk

Length: 3min 48sec (228 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 16 2023

Reddit Comments

[u/tresleches2121]

The Economist is covering Modi quite a bit. It is a good thing but their recent articles that lacked depth makes me suspect that Modi and Jaishankar have targeted them to paint the picture they want

[u/Kambar]

Answer: it is not modi.

Eg:- Sundar Pichai went to USA and joined Google before Modi became the PM.