Demographics and Impact of the Indian Diaspora Across Europe

Millions of people of Indian origin have made Europe their home, building vibrant communities that span continents and generations. According to India’s Ministry of External Affairs, the global Indian diaspora stood at approximately 35.4 million as of November 2024 – the world’s largest overseas diaspora. Within Europe, this community has carved out a distinctive and influential presence, concentrated most heavily in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Italy, Portugal, and France. Understanding how these communities are distributed – and what they contribute – tells a compelling story about migration, identity, and global integration.

The scale of the Indian diaspora in Europe 🔗

Europe hosts a significant share of the Indian diaspora, though its proportion of the total has gradually shifted as migration to North America and the Gulf has accelerated. Data For India reports that while more Indians have moved to Europe in absolute numbers over recent decades, Europe’s share of total Indian emigrants has declined relative to West Asia and North America. Still, the communities that have taken root here are economically vibrant, culturally rich, and deeply embedded in their host societies.

Indians also feature among the top five immigrant groups moving to the EU, reflecting a sustained and growing interest in Europe as a destination for professionals, students, and entrepreneurs. The Indian diaspora in Europe is not a monolith – it varies dramatically by country in terms of size, history, occupational profile, and degree of integration.

The United Kingdom: the largest Indian community in Europe 🔗

The UK is home to the largest Indian population in Europe by a wide margin. A 2025 white paper launched at the House of Lords, produced by Here & Now 365 in partnership with the Aston India Centre at Aston University, positioned the Indian community as the UK’s most economically successful migrant group. People of Indian heritage make up the largest immigrant community in the country, accounting for around 2.5% of the population in England and Wales.

The report traces four major waves of Indian migration to Britain since independence in 1947. The first wave arrived after World War II to fill labour shortages in manufacturing, transportation, and the fledgling National Health Service. The second wave, in the early 1970s, brought East African Asians expelled from Uganda under Idi Amin – many of whom carried strong business experience and entrepreneurial expertise. A third phase brought skilled professionals in finance, healthcare, engineering, and education. The most recent wave, shaped by Brexit and COVID-19, has seen Indian talent sustain healthcare and drive digital innovation.

Economic contributions in the UK 🔗

The economic footprint of the Indian diaspora in the UK is substantial. Research by Grant Thornton found that 654 diaspora-owned companies with a turnover of over £100,000 collectively generated £36.84 billion in annual turnover and employed over 174,000 people. A later tracker for 2021 found 850 Indian companies operating in the UK with a combined turnover of £50.8 billion, employing over 116,000 people and paying £459 million in corporation tax. Key sectors include healthcare, food and beverage, hospitality, real estate, pharmaceuticals, and technology.

Technology is a particularly prominent area. Indian-born workers now make up around 15% of the UK’s technology workforce, in a country regarded as the world’s second-largest technology hub after the United States. Indian-led enterprises and professional networks have played a significant role in generating employment opportunities, building skills, and promoting cross-sector knowledge exchange. In academia too, the diaspora has made a mark – with Indian-origin scientists and researchers active in leading British universities and research institutions.

The Netherlands: a unique colonial link 🔗

The Netherlands is home to approximately a quarter-million people of Indian origin, making it the second-largest host of Indians in Europe after the UK. What makes this community distinctive is its composition: the majority are Indo-Surinamese – descendants of Indians brought to the Dutch colony of Suriname as contract labourers after the abolition of slavery, who later migrated to the Netherlands. This gives the Dutch-Indian community a layered, multi-generational heritage that stretches back to the 19th century.

Beyond the Indo-Surinamese, direct Indian migrants – particularly Punjabi traders and skilled professionals – have added to the community’s diversity. As many as 100 Indian companies are established in Amsterdam alone, out of over 200 across the Netherlands, collectively employing around 20,000 people. The community has made inroads into Dutch politics as well, with members serving as Members of Parliament and in municipal councils. The Netherlands holds an unusual distinction: it is one of the only countries outside India to have more than 30 streets named after Mahatma Gandhi.

Italy: the dairy fields and beyond 🔗

Italy may surprise many as a significant destination for the Indian diaspora, but it hosts the third-largest Indian population in continental Europe. Significant Indian migration to Italy began in the early 1990s, initially driven by Italian government programs that recruited Indian IT professionals and engineers to contribute to the country’s technology sector. Over time, the migration profile broadened considerably, with large numbers of Punjabi Sikhs entering agriculture and the food industry.

The Indian community’s contribution to Italian agriculture – and specifically to the dairy sector – is now well-documented. It is estimated that 60% of workers in the Parmesan industry are Sikh, and the influx of Sikh migrant workers has been credited with sustaining iconic Italian cheese industries like Parmigiano-Reggiano and Grana Padano, which younger Italians have increasingly moved away from. The British Sikh Report has described Sikhs as the “saviours of Parmesan” for this reason.

Challenges alongside contributions 🔗

The Italian experience also carries a difficult side. Many Indian farm workers, primarily from Punjab, have faced severe exploitation under Italy’s illegal gangmaster system – known locally as caporalato – with reports of below-minimum wages, dangerous working conditions, and limited legal recourse due to language barriers and irregular visa status. This tension between economic contribution and labour vulnerability is an important dimension of the Indian presence in Italy that cannot be overlooked. Despite these challenges, the Indian community has integrated across multiple sectors, with Lombardy alone hosting the largest concentration – nearly 48,000 people – and Indian professionals active in technology, retail, and tourism as well.

Portugal: a Goan heritage and growing presence 🔗

Portugal’s connection with the Indian subcontinent stretches back to the age of Vasco da Gama, and the Indian community here carries that historical weight. The most established group is the Goan community – descendants of Indians from the former Portuguese territory of Goa – who have maintained a distinctive cultural identity bridging Indian and Portuguese heritage. A 2024 academic study on Indian diaspora trajectories in Portugal notes that more recent decades have seen growing arrivals from Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Kerala, driven by economic opportunities, education, and family reunification.

The Indian diaspora’s influence in Portugal extends to the political level. Former Prime Minister António Costa, who served until 2024, is of Goan descent – a tangible symbol of how deeply integrated Indian-origin communities have become in Portuguese society. Indian entrepreneurs, students, and IT professionals have become increasingly visible in Lisbon and Porto, and Portugal’s focus on renewable energy and innovation is creating new avenues for Indian professionals in green technology and fintech sectors.

France: professionals, students, and a growing footprint 🔗

France has a smaller but steadily growing Indian community. The Indian diaspora in Western Europe, as studied in a 2024 article in the South Asian Diaspora journal, shows that France’s Indian population is diverse in terms of history, contemporary dynamics, and community organization. The community includes long-established Tamil communities from the former French territory of Pondicherry, as well as more recent arrivals of skilled professionals, IT workers, and students.

France has actively cultivated educational ties with India through programs like the Franco-Indian Education Trust and scholarships from the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, encouraging Indian students to pursue higher education in engineering, management, science, and the arts. This pipeline of students – many of whom stay on after graduation – is gradually expanding the professional Indian community in major French cities. Indian professionals in France are found in sectors including IT, pharmaceuticals, consulting, and academic research.

Broader contributions: business, technology, and academia 🔗

Across Europe, the Indian diaspora has made disproportionate contributions relative to its population size. In business, Indian entrepreneurs have established thousands of companies – from family-run enterprises to multinationals. Globally, 24 Fortune 500 companies are led by Indian-origin executives, and this leadership culture is increasingly evident in Europe’s corporate landscape as well. Indian IT giants such as Infosys, TCS, and Wipro have established significant European operations, while individual entrepreneurs have founded successful startups across the continent’s tech hubs.

In academia, the contributions are equally significant. A study on Indian diaspora and immigration policy notes that the 2011 census recorded Indian diaspora contributions of 6% to UK GDP – one of the highest for any ethnic minority community. German universities have funded Indian students and researchers to conduct work in sciences and technology, while research institutions across Europe count Indian-origin scholars among their most cited contributors in STEM fields.

Cultural contributions are woven through every country in this list. Indian festivals – Diwali, Holi, Eid – now draw participants from all backgrounds in cities like London, Amsterdam, and Paris. Indian cuisine, long established across the UK, has spread to nearly every European capital. And in the arts, literature, and music, Indian-heritage Europeans have enriched their host cultures while maintaining strong ties to their roots.

A community defined by diversity 🔗

What stands out about the Indian diaspora across Europe is how varied it is. The Punjabi Sikh dairy worker in northern Italy, the Indo-Surinamese politician in The Hague, the Goan-Portuguese prime minister in Lisbon, the British-Indian tech professional in London’s Silicon Roundabout, and the Tamil student pursuing a PhD in Paris – all are part of the same broad story, yet their experiences are profoundly different. As research on Indian identity in Western Europe has shown, the nature and composition of the Indian diaspora in Europe is highly diverse in terms of number, history, and contemporary dynamics, yet certain patterns – of resilience, community-building, and economic ambition – remain strikingly consistent.

This diversity is precisely what makes the Indian diaspora such a compelling subject of study. It does not fit a single template, and that complexity is a reflection of India itself – a country of enormous linguistic, regional, religious, and social diversity, whose emigrants carry that plurality with them wherever they go.

What do you think? How do the very different experiences of Indians in Italy’s agricultural sector and Indians in the UK’s technology industry challenge assumptions about what the “Indian diaspora experience” looks like? And as second and third generations grow up across Europe, how might their sense of identity – caught between multiple cultures – reshape European societies in the decades ahead?

References

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