Over 2 lakh Indians renounced Indian citizenship in 2024: Govt tells Lok Sabha

Over 2.06 lakh Indians renounced their citizenship in 2024, the government told the Lok Sabha on Friday. Minister of State for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh provided the figures in a written reply to questions from Congress MP K C Venugopal about how many people gave up their Indian citizenship and took citizenship of other countries in the past five years.

The data shows 85,256 people renounced citizenship in 2020, 1,63,370 in 2021, 2,25,620 in 2022, 2,16,219 in 2023 and 2,06,378 in 2024. For comparison, the numbers were 1,22,819 in 2011, 1,20,923 in 2012, 1,31,405 in 2013 and 1,29,328 in 2014.

“The reasons for renouncing Indian citizenship or taking foreign citizenship are personal and known only to the individual,” Singh said.


He added, “The government recognises the potential of the global workplace in an era of the knowledge economy. It has also brought about a transformational change in its engagement with the Indian diaspora.”

Singh said a successful and influential diaspora benefits India through networks and soft power, and the government’s efforts aim to make full use of this potential through knowledge and expertise sharing.

In response to another question, the government said there are 3,43,56,193 overseas Indians, including 1,71,81,071 Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs) and 1,71,75,122 Non-Resident Indians (NRIs).

(With inputs from PTI)