Over the past three years, almost 400,000 Indians gave up their Indian citizenship to settle overseas.
On Tuesday, the Indian government told the Parliament that more than 163,000 Indians surrendered their citizenship in 2021 alone. The report tabled by the junior Home Minister of India, Nityanand Rai, added that more than 78,000 took US citizenship.
According to the government, America has emerged as the top choice among 103 countries where the emigrants settled.
The data shows that 144 thousand Indians renounced their citizenship in 2019, while 85,256 people gave up in 2020.
Responding to a question by BSP MP Hazi Fazlur Rehman, Union MoS for Home told the Parliament that according to the Ministry of External Affairs, the Indian citizens renounced their citizenship “for reasons personal to them”.
Apart from countries such as Singapore (7,046) and Sweden (3,754), many have also opted for countries like Bahrain (170), Angola (2), Iran (21), and Iraq (1). In addition, one person took citizenship of Burkina Faso in 2021.
More than 1,400 persons became Chinese citizens, while 48 Indians renounced their citizenship to become Pakistani citizens.