规模约3700万的印度海外侨民是全球最庞大的侨民群体，或许也是最成功的群体：在拥有超过300万印度出生人口的美国，印裔美国家庭的年收入中位数高达15.1万美元，比全美平均水平高出约75%，更有桑达尔·皮查伊、萨提亚·纳德拉、佐赫兰·马姆达尼和卡什·帕特尔等众多印裔精英在商业、科技和政界身居要职。印度国内媒体和民众热衷于庆祝任何具有印度血统者的成就，例如祖先在19世纪离开印度的今年诺贝尔和平奖得主、南非法官纳维·皮莱，以及父母来自印度南部的全球首位马拉雅利裔宇航员阿尼尔·梅农；自2000年代印度人民党（BJP）首次在全国执政以来，印度政府一改独立后鄙视移民导致人才外流的态度，转而积极拉拢海外印侨（NRI）以获取政治捐款和推进国家利益，总理纳伦德拉·莫迪出访时更常在座无虚席的体育场举行侨民集会。
然而从另一个角度看，海外印侨的成功恰恰暴露了印度留不住人才的弊病与国内制度的失灵：2023年的一项研究发现，在2010年印度顶尖工科院校印度理工学院（IIT）入学考试的前1000名高分考生中，有36%在8年后定居海外，而在前100名中这一比例更高达62%。同样，相对于其经济规模，印度本土企业的影响力严重不足：按市值计算，全球前500强企业中印度仅有8家，远低于中国的41家和美国的234家，这既源于许多印度企业仍作为缺乏专业管理的家族式“拉拉”（lala）企业运作，也归咎于国家未能提供完善的基础设施与监管环境。长期以来，占印度GDP达4%的侨汇（中国仅为0.2%）支撑了数百万家庭并帮助应对了近期伊朗战争等冲击，移民更充当了缓解高学历青年就业压力的社会安全阀。
但这一安全阀如今正在关闭：特朗普政府收紧了移民政策，于10月8日以涉嫌移民欺诈为由暂停了包括多家印度企业在内的科技公司为员工担保永久居留权的资格，澳大利亚和加拿大也在限制学生签证，而种族主义和怨恨更在以美国为首的社交媒体上掀起反印仇恨运动。面对困境，庞大的印侨既无力遏制仇恨，也无法充当真正的外交使团——就在上个月，美国国会通过法案，允许对购买俄罗斯石油的印度征收100%的关税。尽管莫迪将海外侨民誉为“国家使者”（rashtradoot），但在印度国内体面工作稀缺、城市不宜居且年轻人日益走上街头宣泄愤怒的现实下，几乎没有海外印侨愿意回国，唯有让印度人在本土蓬勃发展才是真正的民族自豪之源。
Numbering around 37m, the Indian diaspora is the world’s largest and arguably most successful, particularly in America, where over 3m Indian-born residents help drive a median Indian-American household income of $151,000—roughly 75% above the national median—and figures like Sundar Pichai, Satya Nadella, Zohran Mamdani, and Kash Patel hold top leadership roles. India proudly celebrates anyone with ancestral ties, such as South African judge and 2026 Nobel peace prize laureate Navi Pillay or the world’s first Malayali astronaut, Anil Menon; reversing decades of post-independence disdain for emigrants, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) began courting non-resident Indians (NRIs) for political donations and influence during its first national term in the 2000s, a strategy intensified by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s packed stadium rallies abroad.
Yet overseas success also indicts India’s inability to retain talent and foster domestic business: a 2023 study revealed that eight years after the 2010 entrance exam for the elite Indian Institutes of Technology, 36% of the top 1,000 scorers—and 62% of the top 100—lived abroad. Likewise, among the world’s 500 largest companies by market capitalisation, India claims just eight, compared with 41 in China and 234 in America, reflecting both poorly managed family-run “lala” businesses and inadequate state infrastructure and regulation. While remittances worth 4% of India’s GDP (versus 0.2% in China) cushion millions of households during crises like the recent Iran war shock and emigration acts as a labour-market safety-valve, that outlet is now closing.
The Trump administration clamped down on October 8th by suspending tech firms—including several Indian ones—from sponsoring permanent-residency visas over alleged fraud, Australia and Canada are curbing student visas, and anti-Indian racism is surging on social media. Despite Mr Modi hailing overseas Indians as rashtradoot (emissaries), the diaspora could not stop America’s Congress last month from authorizing 100% tariffs on India for buying Russian oil, nor do many emigrants wish to return to unliveable cities and scarce jobs that are driving frustrated Indian youths to protest in the streets.
Source: The limits of India’s diaspora power
Subtitle: As the West closes its doors, India must make staying home more attractive
Dateline: Oct 15th 2026\n