New York: The first-ever Global Indian Pulse survey by HSBC has revealed that pandemic has made Indians living abroad feel closer to friends and families in India.
The report says that the pandemic has driven a change in attitudes towards India. Almost 72 percent of the global Indians surveyed said the pandemic has made them feel closer to friends and family in India. Around 65 percent have proactively increased their investments with the aim of promoting positive change in India in the aftermath of the pandemic.
The most interesting is that around 63 percent of the third generation of global Indians, who have never lived in India, have increased their investment in India in recent times. The report brings to life the huge contribution global Indians make to the success and prosperity of both the countries where they live and India.
The Indian diaspora is the largest migrant population in the world. The global Indian Pulse report says that going abroad to settle is no longer considered as a ‘brain drain’ from India but a flow of people and ideas in a mutually beneficial exchange. The data reveals the feeling of missing India means different things to different generations and could be experienced through family, food, friends, culture, or religion.
The study examined the attitudes of 4,152 people across nine markets with a prominent global Indian presence. It provides compelling evidence and a new understanding of the emotional and financial contribution that ties three generations of global Indians to both India, and to the countries that they were either born in, live in, or have settled in.
Some 80 percent of global Indians surveyed are making investments of some sort in India – compared to 85 percent in their country of residence – and 59 percent are planning to increase their investments in both India and their country of residence in the last three years.
The report also examined whether global Indians plan to return or live in India in the future. The survey revealed that 61 percent are planning to live in India at some stage in their lives while more than two-third of second and third-generation global Indian surveyed said that they still plan to retire in their current country of residence.
“As the world’s largest migrant population, global Indians have a significant role to play here, and as a global Indian myself I see first-hand the importance of these shared connections and sense of pride in the future of India,” Richa Goswami, Global Head of Customers and International at HSBC said.
