UK-based diaspora organisation, Insight UK, has collated research this week to highlight and celebrate the contributions of the British Indian community to all walks of British life.
“By nature, we British Indians are relatively quiet, humble and just get on with things without ‘blowing our own trumpet’ so to speak,” Insight UK said in a statement.
It noted: “However, whilst that is a great attitude, it is also necessary that our contributions are recognised – especially now. Unfortunately, there are a few media houses, groups and people who regularly report negative, biased and false/half-truth news about India and Indians.
“We feel that British Indians are the unsung heroes of Britain. We contribute immensely to Britain in various fields, yet many feel we as a community are targeted and belittled - especially by certain media corporations, groups and people.”
According to the organisation, the research on British Indian diaspora's contribution to the UK serves two purposes:
Raise awareness of our contribution which many people are not aware of, including British Indians themselves.
Create a sense of pride amongst British Indians for our contribution and hard work.
The findings cover various facets and statistics of diaspora life in the UK.
Population: British Indians make up around 1.5 million (2.5 per cent) of the total population of the UK.
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A survey of 654 Indian diaspora-owned companies collectively invest around £2bn in the UK economy through capital expenditure.
The combined revenue of all the companies that have been identified is £37bn.
35% of the business identified have more than one female Director on the Board.
The largest employers include B&M Retail (26k jobs), Vedanta Resources (25k jobs) and Boparan Holdco Ltd (22k jobs).
The most important sectors include hospitality, healthcare and pharmaceuticals and real estate and construction.
43% of all Indians were in the two highest income groups.
74% of all Indians own their own home, compared with 68% of white British and 59% of Asian populations.
Research carried out on median gross hourly earnings between 2012 and 2018 found that Indians are the second-highest paid group in the UK with median earnings of £13.47 per hour. Again, this is second to only the Chinese who earn (median) hourly wage of £15.75.
In terms of perceptions, Indians perform favourably compared to other South Asian communities.
- According to data from 2010, only 32% of Indian women were economically inactive (unemployed). For Bangladeshi and Pakistani populations, this figure was almost double at 59%.
Healthcare: 15% of healthcare professionals are from the Indian diaspora.
Law and Order: In 2021, British Indians made up less than 1% of the total prison population in the United Kingdom (185 out of 78,324 inmates).
Indians frequently attain grades above the national average. In the most recent statistics available, at GCSE level, 62% of Indians achieve above a grade 5 in both English and Mathematics, in comparison to only 42.7% white British pupils.
- This is later compounded at the A-Level stage, where 15.3% of Indians (compared to 10.9% of white British) pupils achieve grade A or higher in 3 subjects.
96% of all Indians went into further education. This was higher than white British pupils (85%) and second only to Chinese students (97%).
31% of Indian workers were employed in professional occupations, which was the highest out of all the ethnic groups. A further 27% were employed in public admin, education or healthcare.
25 notable British Indian academics, including one Noble Prize winner and six with knighthoods.
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*Insight UK references on the Indian contribution to the UK:
