There are about 30 million people of Indian origin in the global Indian Diaspora. They wield economic, intellectual and political clout in several countries of the world. A number of Indian origin politicians became the rulers and political leaders in several foreign countries.

The  current Prime Minister, Sir Anerood Jugnauth, and former prime minister Dr. Navin Ramgoolam of Mauritius, two former prime ministers of Trinidad and Tobago, Basdeo Panday (1995 -2001) and Kamla Persad-Bissessar (2010-15), three presidents of Guyana, Cheddy Jagan (1992-97), Bharrat Jagdeo (1999-2011) and Donald Ramotar (2011-15), two presidents of Singapore, C.V. Deven Nair (1981-85) and S.R. Nathan (1999-2011) are of Indian origin. Former Governor General of New Zealand, Anand Satyanand, former governor of Louisiana,(USA), Bobby Jindal, current Governor of South Carolina (USA), Nikki Haley, and current Defence Minister of Canada, Harjit Sajjanare are of Indian Origin.

The first Asian elected in 1956 as U.S Congressman was Dalip Singh Saund from India.  There are several people of Indian origin who hold elected positions in the legislative bodies of their countries and some have occupied or are holding ministerial or other high ranking positions. People of Indian origin living in various parts of the world, are generally well educated and most of them hold professional positions or are engaged in their businesses. Some of the professionals and academics have earned coveted recognitions. Four of them, Har Gobind Khorana, Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, V. S. Naipaul, and Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, have been conferred the Noble Prize. Several others have earned name, fame and fortune in their professions and businesses.