India’s most consequential contribution to the world isn’t a product, a service, or even a technology platform. It is people. Indian workers, entrepreneurs, scientists, physicians, investors, and public leaders now shape economies far beyond India’s borders. They staff hospitals in rich countries, build companies in frontier sectors, sit atop global firms and universities, and increasingly influence how India itself is understood abroad.

The new report on the Indian diaspora released last week by the global organisation Indiaspora estimates the Indian diaspora at 35 million people across more than 200 countries, with formal annual earnings of roughly $730 billion and remittances to India of $138 billion — the highest in the world.

Remittances are the largest, most visible and most economically meaningful dividend of this human export. Across the country, they support households, finance education and housing, and provide macroeconomic ballast. The report notes that remittances now finance nearly half of India’s merchandise trade deficit, and that a rising share flows from advanced economies rather than only the Gulf. The Indian presence abroad is no longer concentrated in low-wage labour migration alone, but is embedded in........

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