Indians in the UK
The first Indians, and other firsts
Britain’s first desi was a Bengali boy
The first woman to study law at Oxford was an Indian, and so was the man behind Britain’s first spa. A new book tells the story of Indian immigrants in the UK
Monica Bathija
A recorded presence since 1614
In 1793, Sake Dean Mohamed, born in Bihar in 1759 and having worked his way up in the East India Company, moved to Cork, Ireland where he wrote the first known Indian travel narrative in English. That’s not the only first to his credit — a shrewd entrepreneur, Mohamed migrated to London in 1808 with his wife Jane and children and opened the first Indian coffee house there. Then, when that business began to fail, he moved to Brighton, reinvented himself, and in 1821 revived the town’s spa culture by opening ‘Vapour Baths’. He went on to become the official ‘shampooing surgeon’ of George IV.
If the predominant myth about Britain’s contemporary South Asian population is that they arrived after the end of World War II, mostly cheap labour from the subcontinent being sought to rebuild a war-torn Britain, Susheila Nasta and Florian Stadtler’s new book Asian Britain: A Photographic History, dispels the notion. The Asian presence in Britain dates back to over 400 years ago when a small population had arrived as early as the formation of the East India Company in 1600.
“One of the first recorded presences of an Indian in Britain was in 1614 when Patrick Copland, a chaplain in the East India Company, returned to England with a Bengali boy,” says Nasta, literary critic and editor of Wasafiri, a literary magazine. The boy was christened Petrus Papa or Peter Pope and brought up as a Christian.
The book explores the interconnections between Britain and India from the period of the so-called ‘Raj’ to the present, directing the lens, so to speak, in the direction of Indians in Britain rather than the other way round. A lot of the focus on Raj history has largely been on the British in India, so the book, says Nasta, “looks, if you like, at the other side of this story, the obvious fact that due to the long trading and political connections between both countries, the traffic was two way.”
Some firsts
Through pictures, the book tells the stories of Cornelia Sorabji, the first woman to read law at Oxford way back in 1892, and suffragette Sophia Duleep Singh who, exploiting her public profile as Queen Victoria’s god-daughter, drew attention to her fight for women’s rights and was often seen selling The Suffragette outside Hampton Court Palace. And though Keith Vaz’s election in 1987 was an important symbolic moment — Vaz was the first Asian MP in Britain since 1929 — the photographs remind us that it was actually Dadabhai Naoroji who was Britain’s first Asian MP in 1892, his concerns ranging from the housing conditions of his Finchley constituents to the imperial drain on India’s resources brought about by empire.
The interconnectedness of the two countries is also a story that moves from the 1886 Colonial and Indian Exhibition where Indians were featured as living exhibits to the over 1.4 million troops that fought alongside British soldiers in the trenches during World War 1. It’s a story about the RAF recruits that flew planes in the Battle of Britain and sari-clad Indian volunteers who helped during air raids. There were also lascars or seamen who ‘stoked the engine of Empire on British steamships’ and were forced by the arduous conditions on board to find more lucrative sources of employment as well as ayahs who worked as nannies for English families on the long sea voyage home and were left to fend for themselves soon after arrival. Not to mention the interesting story where around the time Mohandas Gandhi made his way to Britain to study law, Abdul Karim, who went on to become the Queen’s closest political advisor, first arrived in the royal household as an ordinary waiter.
The elites and the common man all form a part of the narrative. ‘’We wanted to highlight the long history of Asian contribution to Britain but to not try to hide the troubled times or the racism or the difficulties that have been experienced,’’ says Nasta, who has also directed two research projects looking at the early migrant histories of South Asians in Britain.
Migration is, at the best of times, a fraught issue and when you throw colonialism into the mix, it makes for a history that is complicated and intriguing. ‘’There is always a doublespeak going on as is evident from India’s involvement in WW2 which was welcomed and then there was failure to acknowledge this after Independence. Following the migrations of the 1960s, Asians were viewed as strangers flooding Britain’s shores,’’ says Nasta. ‘’And the point about all the pictures is not only what they say but what they don’t say, and the thoughts they provoke about their subject’s different lives in Britain.’
Indians:largest foreign voter group in UK
Jan 30 2015, Kounteya Sinha
6.15L: Indians form largest foreign voter group in UK
Almost 4 million voters about one in 10 of the entire electorate in England and Wales have been found to be born abroad. Indians have emerged the largest chunk in this foreign born electorate.
As many as 615,000 Indians will vote in the upcoming election. The second largest chunk of foreign voters will be Pakistanis 431,000.
Records show the Commonwealth migrant communities (in particular from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nigeria and South Africa) along with the Irish Republic will have the highest numbers of potential voters in May 2015. EU nationals despite their large and growing presence in the UK will be heavily under-represented in May 2015 as a large majority of them have not acquired British citizenship yet.
The migrant electorate is heavily concentrated in London 19 of the 20 seats with the largest migrant voter shares are in Greater London.
The migrant electorate could have decisive power in at least 70 seats.
Divorce granted by a foreign court is invalid
Smriti Singh TNN
The Times of India, Oct 9, 2011
NRI divorce: Order by UK court ‘invalid’
Divorce granted by a foreign court to a non-resident Indian (NRI) is invalid where the estranged spouse doesn’t have the means to go to that country and contest the proceedings. A trial court has held this view while hearing the case of a UK-based NRI couple.
The NRI man had obtained divorce decree from an Ilford county court even as his wife had returned to India and not “submitted to the jurisdiction of a foreign court”. The trial court held that the decree granted by the UK court cannot be recognized.
“The fact that the petitioner has been residing in India since December 2009 and did not have the wherewithal to contest the proceedings on merit in the UK court not only created an imbalance and an inequitable situation, but clearly points out that she had not submitted to the jurisdiction of that court,” additional district judge Ina Malhotra said.
The woman (petitioner) had moved the trial court, seeking divorce on the grounds of cruelty. Her husband, however, submitted that their marriage had already been dissolved by a court in UK and had attained finality, and therefore, the application was infructuous. Also, since both the parties were UK residents, the decree was valid, he said.
But the woman’s counsel, Prashant Mendiratta, argued that since she had never subjected herself to the jurisdiction of the UK court adjudicating on the divorce, the decree passed by that court would not be binding on her. Citing various judgments by the Supreme Court on the issue, Mendiratta said that in any case the proper law for dissolution of a marriage solemnized by Hindu rites and ceremonies between two Hindus would be the personal law of the parties, which is the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 — a law not applicable in the UK.
After going through the contentions of both the parties, the court held that the objections raised by the woman fell within the purview of the exceptions of Section 13 of Civil Procedure Code (when foreign judgment not conclusive), rendering the foreign court’s decree null and void. “I find that the apex court has clearly opined that where the foreign judgment is in defiance of Indian law, it could not be said to be conclusive in the matter adjudicated and would be unenforceable in this country,” the judge said.
Indian students
Indian students in UK universities
Kounteya Sinha
May 19, 2015
UK sees 50% dip in Indian students since 2010
The number of Indian students traveling to the United Kingdom for studies has fallen by a whopping 50% since 2010, latest statistics have revealed. New research from London First and Price Waterhouse Coopers has found that international students are a boon to the UK, bringing a net benefit of £2.3 billion to the economy from London universities alone.
However, the key areas of concern raised by students include the closure of the Tier 1 (Post Study Work) visa route which is the main reason for Indian students to explore countries like Canada and Australia for higher education besides a very short "grace period" between graduation and expiry of their student visa during which time students would need to find a job offer from an employer that could sponsor them under Tier 2 in order to remain in the UK.
The report says that "since the 2009/10 academic year, the number of international students from India has fallen by 50% whereas the number of international students from China has increased by more than 50%".
This fall saw the number of Indian students in UK in 2013 dipping to as low as 19750 making up only 6% share of total students. Even then, Indians made up the second highest chunk of international students n UK.
Nicola Dandridge, chief executive of Universities UK said that Indian students were being put off by an unwelcome visa regime. "A number of worrying signs remain - not least the continued decline in Indian students - almost by a remarkable 49% between 2010 and 2012," she said.
Interestingly the latest analysis by London Calling dismisses the myth that international students are a burden on public services, such as the NHS.
Instead, they were shown to contribute a total of £2.8 billion through the spending they bring to the country, while only consuming £540 million in public spending.
The report recommends "UK should follow the lead of other countries such as Canada and Australia and stop classifying students as immigrants. They are here for a short time only and by choosing to study in the UK, they are contributing to jobs, growth and cultural understanding in this country. The government should reinstate the automatic option or make it easier for international students to work here for a few years after graduation".
International students in UK universities come from over 190 countries. The UK is just below the US in terms of the total number and diversity of international students in its higher education institutions. Around 30% of international students across all UK HE institutions were of Chinese descent (87,895 out of a total international student population in UK HE institutions of 310,195) with other common nationalities including India (6%), Nigeria (6%), and Malaysia (5%).
In total, during the 2013/14 academic year, international students contributed £1,003 million in fee income to London universities. The report said "We estimate that the direct income from tuition fees contributed £1,317 million to UK GDP; £717 million directly, £183 million via the supply chain and £417 million via the spending of employees.
In addition, the £1,003 million in tuition fee income from international students generated a total of 32,800 jobs. We estimate that, in total, friends and relatives that visit international students in London spent £62 million in 2013/14. This spending will contribute £65 million to UK GDP".
In 2013-14 there were almost 67,500 international students attending London universities - making up 18% of the total student population in the capital, and 22% of the 310,000 international students across the UK. The decline in Indian students choosing to study at UK universities has been flagged up as a worrying trend as a new study said that international students coming here contribute nearly 2.3 billion pounds to the British economy every year.
3rd in generating London's revenue
The Times of India, Oct 22 2015
Kounteya Sinha Indian students 3rd in generating London's revenue
Indian students in London were the third largest revenue generator for the city last year, contributing £130 million. London mayor Boris Johnson's first-of-its-kind analysis has found that Indian students paid £56 million in fees and nearly £74 million in living costs, with the money creating and supporting 1,643 jobs. But the report also confirms a major fall in Indian students in the UK -from 10% of all international students in London in 2010 to around 4% in 2014. While Chinese student numbers have grown by 49% since 2009-10, the Indian numbers have continued to decline, falling by 11% year on year.
“Indian students coming to London and the rest of the UK have approximately halved over the last five years,“ the report says.
“In 200910 London welcomed 9,925 Indian students which fell to 4,790 in 201314.“
Kevin McCarthy , head of Study London, told TOI: “Indian students, like Indian businesses, play an important part in London's economy . Our research shows they are a key contributor to the £3-billion international students make to the economy . The recent fall in Indian students has clearly had a negative impact on their contribution to the UK economy“.
International students studying at London universities last year provided a £3 billion boost to the UK economy . China was the biggest contributor (estimated spend: £407 million), followed by the US (£217 million). Money spent in the UK by international students created 37,000 jobs, according to a new report by London & Partners, the mayor of London's official promotional company . Spending by international students increased by 18% compared to four years ago and by 98% when compared to 2005-06.
Students from the US were the highest contributors per capita, spending £33,600 per year on average. In 2014, London had welcomed over 106,000 international students.
Length of stay in the UK
Most leave after their degree course
Most desis quit UK after their degree course, August 25, 2017: The Times of India
The majority of Indian students who go to the UK for higher education tend to leave at the end of their course, according to official data released on Thursday .
Between April 2016 and April 2017, 7,469 Indians left before the expiry of their student visas, with only 2,209 seeking extension, the UK's Office of National Statistics said.
The data also confirms a massive drop in the number of Indians choosing the UK as a destination for education. Indian students accounted for approximately 7% of visas granted in 2016, and around one in five in 2010.
Indians in the UK politics
2015: Indian-origin voters
May 26 2015
Kounteya Sinha
Up to a million ethnic minority votes helped put David Cameron back into Downing Street.
Indian-origin voters played kingmaker in UK polls: Survey
In what was a historic swing never seen before in a British parliamentary election, the country's ethnic minority communities including the enormous Indian population played the king maker that saw Cameron become PM for the second time with a clear majorit.
The Conservatives won a majority as a result of one million ethnic minority votes, research by British Future think tank has found.Nearly 6,15,000 Indian-origin voters were expected to vote in the May 7 elections 2015. It found much higher support for the Conservatives among Asian voters this year with 50% in favour of Cameron's party and only 38% supporting Labour. Cameron's visits to Indian temples and promises of giving the country its first PM of Asian origin in the near future reaped rich results. The first post-election analysis reveals that 1 in every 3 of ethnic minority voters supported the Conservatives in 2015, a stronger result than ever before for the party which has historically struggled to appeal to non-white voters.
With 3 million ethnic mi nority voters taking part in the election, the results equate to the Conservatives securing one million ethnic minority votes for the first time in the party's history.
Around 49% of the Hindu votes went to the Conservative Party while 41% went to Labour. Cameron had worked hard in drawing the Hindu vote, visiting the Swaminarayan temple and accorded it the same status as the Stone henge and the Big Ben.
He promised that if he returns as PM, he would pay a visit to the Akshardham temple in Delhi. He also said that Britain needs to take inspiration from Hinduism if it wants to become better.
He had said, “When I look at the Ramayana and my understanding of the Hindu religion, there's so much that you have to say about the importance of family , the importance of community , the importance of voluntary service -these are all the values that our country needs more of. So, as you celebrate your values, let's make them our values, and let's have more of them in Britain“.
The organization British Future said, “When translated into votes, based on an estimated 3 million ethnic minority voters, the results equate to 1.6 million votes for Labour, with the Conservatives securing one million of these votes for the first time.“ EU citizens will not vote in referendum?
Citizens from most EU countries living in the UK will not get a vote in the referendum on Europe. Around 45.3 million people will be eligible to take part in the referendum to decide whether Britain should remain in the European Union. PM David Cameron's office has made it clear that citizens from most EU countries living in the UK will not be included in th e referendum, which keeps almost a million Europeans living in UK banned from voting -a significant boost to Eurosceptic campaigners. Irish citizens and those from two other EU nations -Malta and Cyprus -will be allowed to vote along with others from the Commonwealth countries. This means that Britain's Indian community will play a major role in the results. The UK electoral database puts Indian-born population as the largest foreign-born group in the country.
June 2017: 12 Indian-origin MPs in House
Naomi Canton, June 10, 2017: The Times of India
12 Indian-origin MPs in House, Keith Vaz returns for 8th term
A record 12 Indian-origin MPs won seats in the House of Commons after a tense night in which no party won a majority . All 10 sitting Indian-origin MPs held on to their constituencies whilst two Indian-origin first-timers made it to the House.
International development secretary Priti Patel, 45, of Ugandan-Gujarati heritage, retained her seat in Witham, a working-class heartland, with a comfortable majority of 18,646.Agra-born Alok Sharma, 49, former minister for AsiaPacific, clung on to Reading West in a tight race against Labour, but saw his majority slashed to 2,876 from 6,650.
Rishi Sunak, 37, son-inlaw of Infosys co-founder N R Narayana Murthy , swept to a resounding victory in wealthy rural Richmond in Yorkshire with an increased majority of 23,108. Suella Fernandes, 37, held on to Fareham with a slightly reduced majority of 21,555 and Conservative backbencher Shailesh Vara, 56, kept his North West Cambridgeshire seat with a majority of 18,008.
Labour, too, kept its five Indian-origin MPs. Britain's longest-serving British Asian MP , Keith Vaz, 60, had no problem holding onto Leicester East with an increased majority of 22,428, fending off two Indian-origin candidates, Sujata Barot and Nitesh Dave. Vaz's sister, 62-year-old Valerie Vaz, retained Walsall South with an increased majority of 8,892.
India-born Virendra Sharma also won decisive ly, increasing his majority to 22,090 in Ealing Southall, home to one of the largest South Asian communities.Lisa Nandy , a 37-year-old Bengali, was the only Asian face standing in Wigan in Greater Manchester and she got an increased majority of 16,027.
Seema Malhotra, 44, won Feltham and Heston, an area popular with Punjabis, with an increased majority of 15,603, a constituency she has held since 2011.
Belonging to Jalandar
Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi known as Tan became the first turbaned Sikh MP and Preet Kaur Gill the first Sikh woman to enter the UK parliament, taking the tally to four Punjabi MPs, all from Labour. Seema Malhotra and Virendra Sharma the two veterans. All have roots in Jalandhar.
Born in Slough, 38-year old Dhesi was the youngest Sikh mayor in Europe, when he was elected to the post in Gravesham in Kent. His father Jaspal Singh, who runs a construction company in the UK, was president of Gurdwara Guru Nanak Darbar at Gravesend for years --built on a 805-acre campus, it's is the largest gurdwara in the UK. Dhesi's village, Raipur, about 15 km from Jalandhar broke into cele brations at news of his win.
Preet Kaur Gill, 44, who was a Labour councillor in Sandwell, won from Birmingham Edgbaston, was the only Asian to contest the Labour-held marginal seat and managed to increase her lead from 2,706 to 6,917 votes. Before becoming a Labour councillor on Sandwell Council, she had worked with vulnerable children and families in Birmingham. The daughter of a bus driver, she was born in Edgbaston. Gill's father Daljit Singh Shergill migrated from Khera village near Jalandhar to the UK in 1962. “She last visited us in February to attend my son's wedding,“ her cousin Avtar Singh, an farmer said. Both Dhesi and Gill are secondgeneration Sikhs in the UK.
The only other country with as many Sikhs in the House is Canada, where all four are ministers.
2017: A record 56 candidates
Naomi Canton: The Times of India, June 7, 2017
Most of 10 sitting MPs likely to retain seat; Tory appeal grows among Indian communities
An 18-year-old Alevel candidate, a scholar from Jadavpur University who landed in Britain in 2009 are among the many `desi' faces on the ballot paper as UK votes on Thursday amidst one of the fiercest debates on immigration and minority community in decades.
If a record number of 10 Indian-origin candidates were elected to the British Parliament in 2015, the 2017 snap polls have an impressive number of 56 Indian-origin candidates contesting.
Defending comfortable margins are the Indian-origin veterans, including Priti Patel, Alok Sharma, Keith Vaz, Virendra Sharma and Shailesh Vara, all well-known MPs with sizeable majorities.Though Vaz was embroiled in a prostitution and drugs scandal last year, he is expected to retain his seat with a large majority . Candidates to watch on the night are Paul Uppal, 49, Conservative nominee in Wolverhampton South West. He needs to overturn the 2015 majority of just 801 votes to return to the House of Commons as MP . It will be Labour candidate Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi's first time as MP if he manages to keep the Slough seat, held by Labour's Fiona Mactaggart since 1997. Another Sikh with chances of winning is Kuldip Singh Sahota, 66, a Labour local councillor contesting in Telford. A win in Birmingham Edgbaston will make Labour's Preet Kaur Gill the first Sikh woman MP in the House.
Among interesting debuts is Rohit Dasgupta's, who moved to the UK in 2009 from his native Kolkata. The Labour nominee is running in East Hampshire, a Tory safe seat. The five Indian-origin candidates standing for UKIP are not expected to win any seats as most party supporters are expected to vote Conservative. The Green Party is also not expected to take any seats. The youngest Indian-origin candidate, Arran Rangi, 18, standing for the Green Party in Ashfield, is appearing for his A level exam at 9am on Fri day . “I'll make a brief appear ance at the count,“ he said. “I don't expect to win.“
Rakib Ehsan at Royal Hol loway University who special ises in ethnic minority po litical attitudes, says that for British Indians, it's a two-par ty race between Labour and Tories. “It'll take many more elections for the Lib Dems and Greens to be players in the Asian community .“
Ehsan notes that there “seems to be a huge transfer of votes from Labour,“ and that the Conservatives are likely to win a large chunk of the Indian communities' votes. Within the British Asian population, Indians are more economi cally successful than Pakistanis and Bangladeshis and are more likely to be profession als. Thus, the Conservatives appeal to them more, says Ehsan. British Indians tended to vote Labour in the 1960s and 70s because of Labour's repu tation for anti-discrimination and bringing out the Race Relations Act, but as Indians became economically better off, they have tended to vote Conservative, as in 2015.
Labour leader Jeremy Cor byn's criticism of Narendra Modi over the 2002 Gujarat riots and on Kashmir has also apparently created the impression that Corbyn was “promoting the victimisation of Muslims in India,“ says Ehsan, noting that there's a “feeling that Labour is not tak ing Islamist extremism threat seriously as they're reliant on Muslim votes in inner cities.“
British Indians are able to swing the vote in many marginal seats, he says, a view echoed by Jasvir Singh, founding chair of City Sikhs.
“The ethnic minority vote is greater than the majority's in 50 of the most marginal seats and could make all the differ ence,“ Singh said.
2017: 50% of non-white MPs and Gujarati
Aug 4, 2017: The Times of India
Of the 27 non-white members of the British Parliament, 14 are of Gujarati descent. Non-resident Indians (NRIs) including Gujaratis are at the forefront of all major sectors in the United Kingdom including education, trade and business.
The British government also provides financial aid to diaspora members for learning Gujarati - these were some of the highlights of the speech by C B Patel, a noted British journalist of Gujarati origin at the GCCI hall on Thursday. The event was organized by the NRG Centre. Vishnu Pandya, chairman of Gujarat Sahitya Academy, was another speaker at the event.
"I urge the people of Gujarat and government of Gujarat to improve ties with Britain to facilitate more fruitful interaction," said Patel. In his speech, Pandya spoke of how the stalwarts of the Independence movement spent their formative years in the UK and contributed to Indo-UK ties. He also announced that the academy will soon hold an international Gujarati language conference. K H Patel, chairman of the NRG Centre, said that the UK and India have come closer through a slew of activities in different sectors and Gujarat has benefited immensely from the interaction.
Indians: second job creators in London
May 20 2015
Kounteya Sinha
In 2012, India created 404 jobs in London followed by 429 in 2013 and 438 in 2014.
With a tally of 504, Indians have become the second biggest job creators in London in 2015. The Americans top the list with 1983 jobs, latest data released by London and Partners on Tuesday show. In comparison, China, which is investing heavily in the UK, created only 277 jobs.
Indian companies have already created 504 new jobs in 2015 in London alone -second only to the Americans who created 1983 jobs. China which is investing heavily in UK created only 277 jobs.
The number of jobs being created by Indian companies for Londoners has been increasing with every passing year. In 2012, India created 404 jobs in London followed by 429 in 2013 and 438 in 2014.
More foreign companies -driven by a surge in tech startups -are expanding or setting up headquarters in London than ever before. A record 270 companies, creating nearly 5,000 jobs, have set up or grown significantly in the last year, according to the Mayor's business and promotional company .
As far as new companies are concerned, 28 new Indian companies set up shop in London in 2015 -four higher than the Chinese and second only to America. Global giants like Pfizer, Greenland Group and Tata Elxsi have all expanded or created new headquarters in London. f A decade ago, just 26 tech t companies came to London s but, last financial year there were a record 108. London and a Partners said, “Companies l from India, China, Japan, Australia, Spain and France are also key investors, creating many jobs in tech, financial and business services and the life science industry.“
Indians: Largest overseas born population in UK
The Times of India, July 3, 2015
Kounteya Sinha
Indians have now become UK's biggest overseas born population.
Data released by Office of National Statistics shows that the number of Indians living in UK is four times more than the Chinese and Americans, over three times more than those of Bangladeshi and German origin and two times more than those from Ireland.
The number of Indians have grown by half since 2004 with 7.6 lakh of them living in UK now. India is followed by those of Polish origin (8.88 lakhs), Pakistani (5.16 lakh), Irish (3.78 lakhs), German (2.97 lakhs) and Bangladeshis (2.28 lakhs).
UK is also home to 2.2 lakh people of South African origin, 1.97 lakh who are Americans, 1.91 lakh from China and 1.85 lakhs from Nigeria.
The latest numbers also point to the growing clout Indians enjoy in British society.
The importance of India to UK was reflected with British prime minister visiting India over three times since taking over office in 2010, the only country he has travelled to so many times in his first term in office.
The number of immigrants living in the UK went up by more than 2.6million in a decade and there is now one immigrant for every seven people born in Britain.
In 2004, there were 5,258,000 people living in Britain who were born overseas and 53,907,000 people who were born in Britain.
By 2013, the estimates said, there were 7,921,000 people in Britain who were born abroad, and 55,309,000 born in the UK.
The changing face of British streets also changed the election results during the landmark general election in UK in May.
The House of Commons welcomed the highest number of MPs from ethnic minority backgrounds. As many as 42 MPs are now from ethnic minority backgrounds as against 27 earlier.
Britain is often considered the world's most diverse country.
By 2040, the number of foreign-born and non-white residents in UK is expected to double and account for a third of the population.
One of the world's best experts on demographics - Professor David Coleman from the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford recently predicted that by 2070, white Britons may actually become a minority.
Prime minister David Cameron has gone on record saying his party will give Britain its first Asian prime minister.
The longest serving MP of Indian origin Keith Vaz said "I am convinced that in my lifetime a person of Indian origin will become PM of UK. The Indian diaspora is one of the largest and most historical of ethnic groups in the UK, we can already see the influence of this community in politics, and indeed the potential for British-Indian leaders to emerge to the very top positions including the Premiership of the UK".
Real estate
2013-15: Property in Mayfair
The Times of India Feb 24 2015
Kounteya Sinha
Indians have overtaken Russians to become the wealthiest landlords in Britain’s most expensive commercial district — Mayfair in London. Indian purchasers are now the largest group of overseas buyers in Mayfair comprising 25% of all purchasers and well ahead of other Asian and European buyers (19% of all purchasers) and Russians and Middle Eastern buyers who now comprise just 13% each. Indian billionaires have invested as much as £881million ($1.5 billon) in central London properties in past 18 months.
Up to £440 million ($750m) was spent between wealthy home owners across 221 capital homes in 2013 with Mayfair and Belgravia being the most popular locations. Renowned Mayfair estate agency Wetherell estimate that at the height of each British summer some 3,000 ultrahigh net worth (UHNW) Indian families make Mayfair their address, living in London homes, renting property or staying in luxury hotels.
Figures from the land registry show that overseas based Indian buyers spent almost £450 million purchasing some 221 residential properties in prime central London with the top three most popular locations being Mayfair, St Johns Wood and Belgravia.
Indians have also accounted for more than one in four purchases in central London during the same period. That is second only to Britons, with Russians and Middle Eastern buyers together adding up to 13%.
Wetherell said, “Russians have long ranked first among foreign buyers in terms of their spending power. There’s a new nationality encroaching on their prime property turf — Indians. Indian buyers will typically spend anything from £1million to £20 million on purchasing a home in Mayfair, with 70% buying an apartment or penthouse and the balance acquiring a mansion.” Wetherell highlight that super-prime developers owned by UK or overseas based UHNW Indian families are al so set to undertake over £500 million of new residential development in Mayfair over the next five years.
Examples include the Lodha Group, which recently purchased the Canadian embassy building in Grosvenor Square for £306 million. They plan to turn the 135,000sqft property into a scheme of over 40 luxury residences.
Another luxury developer Luxlo has undertaken a series of residential developments in Mayfair, including penthouses in Park Lane, which have sold for over £4,000 a sqft and Aion, whose ultra-prime apartment at 18 Grosvenor Square is priced at a record £5,130 per sqft.
2016-17: in 22% of real estate transactions in prime London
William DSouza, Indians now No. 2 in London realty deals, October 24, 2017: The Times of India
Up Fourfold In 5 Years, Just Behind Chinese
The prime central London property market has thrown up an interesting trend -the phenomenal rise of Indians in this high-profile realty market.
Research shared by property consultancy Cluttons' partner and head of research Faisal Durrani shows that, between August 2016 and July 2017, Indian participation amounted to 22% of all real estate transactions in prime central London. “It has been noted recently that there has been an upturn in Indian buyers, making up about a fifth at nearly 4 billion pounds out of a total 18 billion pounds,“ said Durrani.
This is also supported by real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield's partner (residential London markets) Mike Bickerton. “Indian UK property investments accounted for only 5% of sales in central London five years ago in 2012. By 2017, that figure had jumped to 22%,“ he said.
Cluttons' Durrani said the last peak in this market was seen 10 years ago in Q3 (July-September) of 2007. “If somebody purchased then in rupees, today they would find that their property is worth 20% more than what they paid for it 10 years ago (due to the Indian currency's movement). So that means there's a strong incentive to sell,“ he said.
Dollar-denominated deals offer an incentive too for adding the London property portfolio. “For Indian buyers with holdings in US dollars, the advantage is that it is 30% cheaper today than it was 10 years ago. So, there is a very strong incentive to purchase London residential today ,“ said Durrani.
He made it clear that this is purely a currency advantage.“It is not because values in London have fallen 30%, because that hasn't happened,“ said Durrani.
Studies commissioned by Taylor Wimpey Central London, a part of the FTSE100listed Taylor Wimpey Plcand a leading developer in this niche market, also have come up with similar research on the forex fluctuations aiding the realty market globally .
The developer's sales & marketing director Darren McCormack said, “We've engaged quite a few forex companies to try and gauge this.And a lot of them reckon that it's going to take a good handful of years to get back to its previous strength. So, this advantage is going to stay for the overseas buyers.“
Visa grants, year-wise
2015-16: Largest skilled workers group
The Times of India, May 27 2016
Indian nationals accounted for the largest number of migrants being granted skilled visas to work in the UK in the last year, latest statistics said.
Indian nationals accounted for 57% of total skilled work visas granted, which adds up to 52,109 of the total 91,833, with Americans the next largest nationality group at 9,981 or 11% of the total, the UK's Office of National Statistics (ONS) data said.“Trends in visa numbers reflect both changes to the im migration rules and the prevalent economic environment. Asian nationals accounted for 298,231 (56%) of the 531,375 longer-term visas granted in YE March 2016, with China and India accounting for 17% and 16% of the total respectively.
“The third largest number granted went to US nationals, who comprised less than 7%,“ an ONS statement said. Indians are also among the top three nationalities to be granted study visas by the United Kingdom.
2016-17: Largest skilled workers group
Indians are largest group of foreign skilled workers in UK, Feb 24, 2017: The Times of India
Indians were the largest group of skilled workers granted visas to live and work in the UK in 2016-17 at 57%, according to official figures.
The UK home office said Indians accounted for 53,575 skilled work visas granted in 2016, and Americans were the second largest at 9,348. “Indians accounted for 57% of total skilled work visas granted (53,575 of 93,244)...The information technology sector sponsored 42% of skilled work visa applications, followed by professional, scientific and technical (19%) and financial and insurance activi ties (12%),“ the Office of National Statistics said.
Indians also accounted for over half of the applications made in the sponsored skilled visa category last year at 30,556 of the total 56,058 applications. “Indians were issued the largest proportion (40% of the total) of skilled work vi sas in the 2010 cohort and, of these skilled Indians , 32% had received settlement after five years, while a further 12% still had valid leave to remain in the UK,“ it said.
The student visa figures for India registered a slight uptick with 11,330 granted in 2016, up from 11,160 in 2015.“For us, mobility is key for our services sector. There has to be a system where our professionals can come to the UK and return. They contribute immensely to both the economies,“ Indian high commissioner to the UK, Yashvardhan r Sinha said.
