The Indian diaspora comprises around 23 million people spread over 110 countries. It includes people of Indian origin (PIOs) and non-resident Indians (NRIs) with the latter consisting of Indian citizens emigrating overseas and non-emigrants travelling abroad on professional or personal grounds. Practically every country in the world has an Indian community. No wonder Thomas Friedman felt that Indians are ?flattening the world?!

The occupational profile of the diaspora has transformed over the years due to greater movement of skilled Indians abroad. There have been two distinct outcomes of this transformation. The first is an increase in inward remittances imparting stability to India?s external sector. The second is a noticeable increase in the strategic capacity of the diaspora in terms of ability to influence host country?s policies towards India.

The occupational shifts and resultant higher remittances and rising influence of the overseas Indian community must be viewed alongside changes in direction of Indian migration. Most of the migration during the 1970s and 1980s was towards the Gulf. Oil price ?shocks? and the windfall gains reaped by Gulf countries led to large investments in labour-intensive public works generating heavy demand for cheap labour. The supply was met essentially by migrant labour from non-Arab countries, particularly India, as well as Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. While Gulf continue to attract low- and semi-skilled workers, Indian migration to the West has increased significantly. North America and Europe were always preferred destinations for the best Indian minds. But after the end of the Cold War and increasing digitalisation of industrial and commercial operations, movement of technically competent Indian professionals to the West has increased sharply. The migration of a diverse array of professionals, particularly software, management and financial experts, has led to the growth of what historian and diaspora expert Brij Lal calls the ?dollar diaspora?. The ?dollar diaspora? represents an American Indian community with well-developed skill sets and proven capacities. At the same time, the ?Look East Policy? and growing business ties have resulted in more Indian professionals migrating to Southeast and East Asia, particularly Hong Kong, Korea, Japan and Singapore.

The movements of skilled Indians to the West as well as to the East over the last couple of decades have been influenced by rising demand for quality talent in host countries along with growing faith in Indian capacities. On the other hand, from a supply-side perspective greater integration with world economy has expanded choices for skilled Indians. Their enthusiastic response to emerging opportunities has led to sharp increase in migration and inflow of remittances to India. India has emerged as the topmost remittance receiver in the world with such inflows conservatively estimated at $45 billion in 2008?more than 4% of the country?s GDP?notwithstanding the global downturn.

With inward remittances functionally correlated to volume and nature of outward migration, both quantum and source pattern of the former have changed substantively over the last couple of decades. The quantum of remittances has been driven by an absolute increase in migration along with skilled Indians taking up relatively more higher-end remunerative occupations in the West vis-a-vis their earlier counterparts to the Gulf. The latter is reflected in more than three-fourth of India?s inward remittances accruing from the US and Europe where skilled Indians figure among the most productive segments of the workforce?a phenomenon becoming more conspicuous in technologically mature high-income Asian economies as well. Indeed, in relatively recent years, Indian immigration to the US has exceeded that from China with a sharp increase in employment-based immigration. While in 1990, Indian immigrants (30,667) to the US were marginally less than the Chinese (31,815), in 2005 Indians (84,681) were ahead of the Chinese (69,967). During this period, the ratio of employment-based migrations in total Indian immigration to the US increased from 26.2% to 56.3%.

The growth of the ?dollar diaspora? and the upgradation in the occupational profile of the overseas Indian community has led to marked improvement in its strategic capacity. The Indian community in the US is the best example of this strategic elevation. The 1.7 million strong Indian American community?the third largest Asian American population in the US?is expanding rapidly. This accomplished and affluent ethnic group has played a key role in positively transforming India?s perception and influencing the direction of US foreign policy towards India.

Apart from being active resource mobilisers, the increasing participation of Indian Americans in the domestic political process has drawn attention of mainstream America to concerns of the Indian community. The politically active and financially strong segments of Indian community successfully mobilised favourable opinion on significant issues such as the Pokhran nuclear tests in 1998 and the Kargil War in 1999. They were also instrumental in thwarting anti-India legislations occasionally introduced by US lawmakers. The US-India Business Council and the Indian Interest Group have also been successful in lobbying with the Congress for sanctions relief, lenient export regulations, favourable tax treatment, government credits and investment guarantees.

The Indian diaspora?s biggest achievement has been winning support for the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal. Not only did individuals such as chairman of the Dallas-based US-India Forum Ashok Mago play key roles in garnering support, but the Forum itself along with the India Caucus played a crucial role in the passage of the deal. Besides the India Caucus in the US Congress, the US Senate also has ?Friends of India?, the first example of a country-based caucus in the Senate. Both caucuses were active in mobilising support for the deal by reiterating India?s impeccable non-proliferation record.

Unlike in the US, Indians are yet to assume equivalently proactive roles in domestic politics and social activities of Asian countries. The experience since early 1990s points to greater movement of skilled professionals to the region and the change in occupational profiles of resident Indians. Singapore, and partly Malaysia, are the only countries in the region where the diaspora is active in social mainstream and public discourse. There is no doubt that larger presence of qualified and skilled Indians has made regional diaspora capable of exerting greater influence for facilitating deeper economic ties with India. Progress in establishment of bilateral trade agreements with several countries in the region, as well as conclusion of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), probably reflects a far more active role of the diaspora than what is usually perceived.

The enhanced economic strength of the diaspora has made it a vital strategic asset for India. It is important to harness this asset through wider and deeper institutional efforts at reaching out that aim to instill a greater sense of ownership in India?s progress among the diaspora. The latter is probably poised to play as crucial a role in India?s globalisation as the Chinese diaspora has for China.

?Amitendu Palit is a visiting research fellow at the Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore. Parama Sinha Palit is a researcher on international relations based in Singapore. Views expressed are personal