Historically, the emigration of Indians in the nineteenth century to Fiji, the Caribbean, Mauritius and Africa consisted mainly of the indentured labour, uneducated and low-skilled. However, emigration, from the mid-twentieth century onwards, to the US and some countries of the West was of a different nature. The levels of education in succeeding generations of migrants were higher and rising, and some of the educated migrants were able even to achieve international recognition in their own fields. Over time, the receiving countries became more and more open to the highly qualified Asians and in particular Indians – scientists, engineers and other professionals.

After World War II, especially after the end of the British rule in India, large numbers of people emigrated to the industrial nations of Europe and North America. The United Kingdom, the United States and Canada emerged as the main destination countries for Indian emigrants. Due to colonial ties, and English being the medium of instruction in India, particularly at the higher professional and technical education level, the UK was the main destination country of Indian immigrants until the 1960s (Khadria 2001). It was first overtaken by Canada and then by the US, which still retains the position of most favoured destination for Indian emigrants (Khadria 1999: 62, 2001). This phase was dominated by emigration of people having diverse professional specializations, such as medicine, engineering, chartered accountancy and others. In contrast to the emigrants of the earlier phase, the majority of Indians who migrated during this phase were from the middle classes and possessed better productive and remunerative skills. They were the products of India's premier institutions of higher and technical education like the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), Regional Colleges of Engineering, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), etc. These people have contributed immensely, at various stages, in the development of their destination countries and many of them became citizens of the countries to which they migrated (Khadria 1999).