More than a few eyebrows were raised when the Indian government released its latest census data in the last week of July – and not just because it was nearly eight years late.
One of the biggest surprises was that the survey showed a massive drop in the number of Chinese immigrants in the country.
Between 2001 and 2011, the overall number of Chinese immigrants fell from 23,712 to 14,951.
The trend was even more noticeable in certain segments of the population. The number of Chinese who had been living in India for more than 20 years, for example, had more than halved, dropping from 11,588 in 2001 to 5,164 in 2011.
While the data provides a snapshot of 2011 (an official attributed the delay to “manpower issues”), experts said the forces driving the decline continued today.
The changes reflect shifting dynamics between the world’s two most populous countries and with the rest of the world as China’s economy grew at a breakneck pace over the decade.
Expatriate businessmen and Tibetan refugees make up a significant portion of the migrant Chinese population in India.
Tilak Jha, an expert on China and assistant professor at the Bennett University, New Delhi, said the drop in the number of long-term migrants from China was “evidence of the older Chinese migrants moving to other countries, particularly the Tibetans.”
“My Chinese and Tibetan friends in India say that they have been migrating to other countries for better opportunities,” he said.
While mortality among the older Tibetan population also contributes to the decline, the trend of Tibetans moving to countries like the US, Canada, Belgium and France has been rising over the past two decades.
But the overall decline in migration from China to India has one exception: a sharp jump in the category of those who have lived in India for less than a year. This increased from 383 in 2001 to 2,729 in 2011.
“After China was admitted to the World Trade Organization in 2001, a lot of Chinese started coming to India to explore it as a consumer market,” said Dr Aravind Yelery, senior fellow at the Institute of Chinese Studies in New Delhi.
“Initially, they dealt mostly in electronics, household products like furniture, and automation industry machines.
“After the recession of 2008, China started looking for markets beyond the West. Around 2010 to 2011, India was looking beyond trade with China and wanted investments. Soon, two-tier businesses from China were replaced with refined businesses that wanted to send students to learn about India’s law and economic system. People to people exchanges started taking place.”
Chinese investment into India between April 2000 and September 2017 reached nearly $2 billion, according to a report by New Delhi-based PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Bilateral trade in commodities increased from less than $3 billion in 2001 to more than $95 billion in 2018.
The increased commerce between Indian and Chinese companies is noticeable even in sports.
Today, BBK Electronics, the holding company of Chinese mobile brands Oppo and Vivo, sponsors the Indian cricket team.
Nazia Vasi, founder of Inchin Closer, a Mandarin-language teaching and cultural consultancy, said the past decade had seen a dramatic shift in China’s presence in India.
“Around a decade ago, people would think the language of China was Chinese, not Mandarin,” she said. “But as our business tie-ups with China increased, so has the awareness. I see a 20 to 30% rise in my students every year.”
The number of Chinese expats in India is estimated between 5,000 and 7,000. Most of them live in tech and business hubs like Bangalore, Gurgaon, Mumbai and Pune.
But if India wants more Chinese investments, it’ll have to try harder, said Pan Xuan, a Chinese expat.
A 2014 Pew Research Survey suggested only 30% of Chinese held a favorable view of India.
Xuan, who has lived in Gurgaon for the past 10 years, said one of the biggest reasons Chinese immigrants were put off by India was the lack of infrastructure, relatively low quality of life and difficulty in obtaining visas.
SOURCE: Inkstone News
