Despite constituting only about 1.5% of U.S. population, Indian diaspora has made substantial contributions to country.
Contributions of Diaspora in USA:
- Economic impact: CEOs of Indian origin head 16 Fortune 500 companies.
- Examples of Business Leaders include Satya Nadella, Shantanu Narayen (Adobe) etc.
- Cultural Influence: Wide celebration of Diwali and Holi, celebrated chefs e.g. Vikas Khanna, Wellness practices with Indian Roots e.g. Deepak Chopra
- Innovation, Research, and Development: 13% of US scientific publications had Indian American co-author.Famous personalities include Har Gobind Khorana, Abhijit Banerjee, Manjul Bhargava.
- Government and Public Services: Kamala Harris (first woman Vice President of Indian descent), Bobby Jindal (first Indian American Governor) etc.
Benefits for India:
- Economic: US is top source of remittance ($26B out of $113 billion in 2022-2023), Since 2000, US companies have invested $ 63 billion in FDI.
- Brain Gain: ~20% of Indian unicorns have co-founders who have leveraged US higher education. E.g. Rahul Chari (PhonePe), Harsh Jain and Bhavin Seth (Dream11).
- Political: Diplomacy and Lobbying (E.g. Indo-US civil nuclear deal), Indian diaspora in global institutions E.g. Gita Gopinath, Raghuram Rajan, Soumya Swaminathan etc
- Cultural Diplomacy & Soft Power: 1 in 10 Americans practices yoga (2023), spreading of Indian cuisine & Ayurveda.
- Indo-US scientific collaboration: E.g. NISAR , iCET etc.
Initiatives for diaspora engagement by India
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