An ethnic minority Tamil woman arrives with her daughter to go to her native village after arriving from India on a passenger ferry at a Colombo port October 12, 2011. According to a press release from the U.N., they are among the first group of 37 refugees who are returning to the island nation after escaping to India 20 years ago due to a 25-year civil war between the government's military and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). REUTERS/Dinuka Liyanawatte
A total of 163,370 Indians ceased their citizenship in 2021, according to data provided by the Ministry of Home Affairs.
According to the petition, they renounced their Indian citizenship “for reasons personal to them.”
The highest number of applications to renounce Indian citizenship, the data revealed, came from the US with 78,284, followed by Australia with 23,533, and Canada with 21,597.
In 2021, more than 300 Indians living in China opted for Chinese citizenship, while 41 renounced their citizenship for Pakistan’s, the document revealed.
In 2020, the number of those who renounced their citizenship fell to 85,256 compared to 144,017 in 2019.
A total of 392,643 Indian citizens switched citizenship to one of 103 countries between 2019 and 2021.
India does not permit dual citizenship.
