A 2018 YouGov survey comparing the image of Indian immigrants to the UK with other south Asian counterparts, is doing the rounds on social media. The survey concluded that Indian immigrants had received a healthy positive score of +25, while immigrants from Bangladesh and Pakistan had figured in the negative zone. The YouGov survey had asked 1,668 UK adults whether immigrants from various parts of the world had made a positive or negative contribution to British life.
Efforts to investigate this intriguing hypothesis threw up a cynical view suggesting that such messages are going around in the social media as Indians feel uplifted by the celebration of 75 years of India’s independence.Positive assessments of Indian immigrants have come out in the past too. The 2014 migration data analysed by Migration Watch UK, had, for instance, found that Indians “exhibit strong economic characteristics” - they have high rates of employment, high earnings and low rates of benefit claims.
This story is repeated elsewhere too! Indian immigrants in the US account for approximately 6 per cent of the foreign-born population, making them the second-largest immigrant group in the country, after Mexicans. According to studies, Indian immigrants in the US are more likely to be highly educated, work in management positions, and have higher incomes than either US or foreign-born populations. They also had lower poverty rates and were less likely to be uninsured. In 2019, 79 per cent of Indian immigrants aged 25 and above reported having at least a bachelor’s degree, compared to 33 per cent of US-born and all immigrant adults. Indians also had much higher incomes; in 2019, households headed by an Indian immigrant had a median income of $132,000, compared to $64,000 and $66,000 for all immigrant and US-born households, respectively.
The earliest groups of Indians entered the US workforce as taxi drivers, labourers, farmers, or small business owners, while the later arrivals often came as professionals or as graduate studies, then moved into professional occupations. They became financially successful due to the growth of technical industries. There were over 4,000 Indian origin professors and 84,000 Indian‑born students in American universities in 2007–08, with 35,000 members of the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin. In 2000, Fortune magazine estimated the wealth generated by Indian Silicon Valley entrepreneurs at around $250 billion. The world is no longer surprised to see Indian origin/born CEOs of the topmost global companies.
A good percentage of the Indian community in the UK is in its third generation now. The first wave of Indians in the UK came from economically deprived backgrounds and worked as manual labourers. The generation thereafter have achieved success in politics, law, business, medicine, industry, finance, academia and research. 60,000 members of the British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin form the steel frame of the NHS. Indian culture has become a point of reference within the wider British culture. Whether it is films, music, food or fashion, Indians have made their presence felt in British society.
Though Indians make up around 2.3 per cent (2011 census) of the total population of the UK, they top the recently released Sunday Times Rich list 2022, with three Indians in the top six. Sri and Gopi Hinduja and family top the list. The list of 250 includes fifteen Indian born/origin entries. No wonder, then, that in 2003, Anjna Raheja, founder of Media Moguls, coined the term ‘Brown Pound’ to describe the growing economic power and disposable income of the Indian community,
The contribution and entrepreneurial spirit of the Indian diaspora were brought out by a 2020 report, ‘India in the UK: The Diaspora Effect’, by Grant Thornton in collaboration with the Indian High Commission and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry. 654 Indian-owned businesses with at least £100,000 turnover collectively generated £36.84 billion, employed 174,000 people, paid £1 billion in corporate tax, and invested around £2 billion through capital expenditure. Grant Thornton’s latest tracker for 2022, prepared with the Confederation of Indian Industries, identified 900 Indian companies operating in the UK, with combined revenues of £54.4 billion, employing 141,005 people, who paid £304.6 million in corporation tax. Thus, Indian companies and companies owned by Indian born/origin people in the UK generate over 315,000 jobs, not counting the thousands of jobs created by smaller businesses. This on its own would explain the favourable image of the Indian immigrant in the UK.
In an article published in the Pakistani daily, ‘Dawn’ on 1 September 2020, Owen Bennet-Jones dwells on the reasons for the success of British Indians. He says that research in the UK has clarified, for example, that Chinese and Indian pupils tend to make the most progress in primary school. Pakistani and Bangladeshi young people do well between the ages of 11 and 16 but their results taper off between the ages of 16 and 18. Based on available data, it is hard to reach firm conclusions, but he says that socioeconomic outcomes are shaped not just by ethnicity but also by other factors. Some research looking at religion as well suggests that all other things being equal, British Hindus fare better than British Muslims, while Indian Muslims generally enjoy better outcomes than Pakistani Muslims, a finding which is consistent with research that suggests that factors such as gender are more important than someone’s faith.
An answer to this interesting question requires far more in-depth analysis than what is possible in a newspaper column. While there are many factors that one can think of, perhaps the foremost is the focus on family and education in Indian society. This value system transcends religion and ethnic diversity. Whichever faith they come from, Indians hail from a society that reveres, rather worships, knowledge and wisdom. Indian society is equally at ease with worshipping the goddess of wealth, as it is comfortable worshipping the goddess of learning. This would explain the success of the Indian diaspora in business as well as academia, arts and other fields.
