New Delhi: Nearly 18 lakh Indians relinquished their citizenship since 2011 till June of 2023 with the number being 5,61,272 in the last four years, the Centre told Lok Sabha on Friday. The data was shared by Union External Affairs Minister Dr Jaishankar in a written reply while replying to a question from Congress MP Karti Chidambaram enquiring about the number of Indian citizens who have relinquished their citizenship during the last three years and the current year.
As per the data, 85,256 Indians relinquished Indian citizenship in 2020, 1,63,370 in 2021, 2,25,620 in 2022, and 87,026 till June of 2023. The data said that as many as 17,50,466 Indians have renounced their Indian citizenship since 2011 with 1,22,819 (in 2011), 1,20,923 (in 2012), 1,31,405 (in 2013), 1,29,328 (in 2014), 1,31,489 (in 2015), 1,41,603 (in 2016), 1,33,049 (in 2017), 1,34,561 (in 2018), 1,44,017 (in 2019).
"The number of Indian nationals exploring the global workplace has been significant in the last two decades. Many of them have chosen to take up foreign citizenship for reasons of personal convenience. The Government is cognizant of this development and has undertaken a range of initiatives centering around ‘Make in India’ that would harness their talents at home", said Jaishankar.
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Jaishankar also provided a list of 135 countries whose citizenship Indians acquired. It is worthy noting here that as per the government's reply in the house last year, the United States remained at the top in this list with 78,284 Indians quitting their Indian citizenship to settle in the country in 2021. In 2019 and 2020, 61,683 and 30, 828 people left Indian citizenship and settled in America respectively.
The other country that bagged the position for the runner-up in this list was Australia with 23, 533 Indians quitting their Indian citizenship in 2021 to settle there. In 2019 and 2020, 21,340 and 13, 518 people respectively left their left Indian citizenship and settled in Australia. Canada was the third choice of people after America and Australia with a total of 21,597 people quitting Indian citizenship in 2021 and settling in Canada.
In 2019, 25,381 people left Indian citizenship and settled in Canada. In 2020 this number was 17,093.
