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{{short description|Ethnic group in India}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2021}}
{{Infobox ethnic group
| group = Americans in India
| image =
| caption =
| population = 1,500,000 (2024–25) <ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-03-19 |title=Immigrant and Emigrant Populations by Country of O.. {{!}} migrationpolicy.org |url=https://www.migrationpolicy.org/programs/data-hub/charts/immigrant-and-emigrant-populations-country-origin-and-destination |access-date=2025-03-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220319075252/https://www.migrationpolicy.org/programs/data-hub/charts/immigrant-and-emigrant-populations-country-origin-and-destination |archive-date=19 March 2022 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-09-04 |title=International Migrant Stock {{!}} Population Division |url=https://www.un.org/development/desa/pd/content/international-migrant-stock |access-date=2025-03-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220904210709/https://www.un.org/development/desa/pd/content/international-migrant-stock |archive-date=4 September 2022 }}</ref>
| regions = [[Bangalore]]{{·}}[[Chennai]]{{·}}[[Hyderabad]]{{·}}[[Mumbai]]{{·}}[[New Delhi]] {{·}} [[Kochi]]
| langs = [[English language|English]]{{·}}[[Languages of India|Indian languages]] and [[Spanish language|Spanish]]
| rels = Christianity{{·}}[[Hinduism]]{{·}}[[Islam]]{{·}}[[Sikhism]]
| related = [[Emigration from the United States|American diaspora]]
}}

'''Americans in India''' comprise immigrants from the United States living in India, along with Indian citizens of American descent. They have a history stretching back to the late 18th century.<ref>{{harvnb|Bhagat|1970}}</ref>

==History==
During [[World War II]], more than 400,000 American soldiers were sent to India.<ref>{{harvnb|Vest|1948|p=223}}</ref>

After the end of [[British India|British colonial rule in India]] in 1947, the "colonial third culture" surrounding employment, which featured expatriates in superior roles, natives in subordinate roles, and little informal socialisation between the two, began to be replaced with a "co-ordinate third culture", based around the common social life of Americans working in multinational corporations and their Indian colleagues. Americans who came to India for work slowly assimilated into this culture.<ref>{{harvnb|J. Useem|1966|p=146}}</ref> Many companies in those days found they had difficulty retaining American employees with children; they found educational facilities at the high school level to be inadequate.<ref>{{harvnb|R. Useem|1966|p=132}}</ref>

In a break from the long tradition of older American expatriates coming to India to manage local subsidiaries of American companies, a trend began in the 2000s of younger Americans taking jobs at Indian companies, especially in the information technology sector, often at lower wages than they had previously earned in the U.S. In 2006 there were estimated to be roughly 800 American immigrants working in high-tech companies in India.<ref>{{citation|title=M.B.A. Students Bypassing Wall Street for a Summer in India|periodical=The New York Times|date=10 August 2005|access-date=6 March 2009|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/10/business/worldbusiness/10intern.html|last=Rai|first=Saritha}}</ref><ref>{{citation|title=Americans seek opportunity in booming Bangalore|date=3 April 2006|access-date=6 March 2009|last=Chea|first=Terence|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-121108666.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121023110727/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-121108666.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=23 October 2012|periodical=Associated Press}}</ref>

==Numbers==
In 2002, one widely cited estimate stated that 60,000 Americans, including African Americans, lived in India. However, exact numbers were difficult to come by because many did not register with the embassy.<ref>{{citation|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/08/world/many-americans-unfazed-go-on-doing-business-in-india.html|periodical=The New York Times|title=Many Americans, Unfazed, Go On Doing Business in India|first1=Barry|last1=Bearak|first2=Seth|last2=Mydans|date=8 June 2002|access-date=6 March 2009}}</ref> Some media reports around the time of the [[2008 United States presidential election|2008 U.S. presidential election]] stated that 10,000 Americans lived in India at the time.<ref>{{citation|last=Guha|first=Seema|title=Obama fans have already called a party in Delhi|periodical=DNA India|date=4 November 2008|access-date=6 March 2009|url=http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1203199}}</ref> However ,this conflicted with another figure given by the head of the U.S. consulate in Mumbai, who estimated that there were 9,000 living in Mumbai and its surroundings alone, representing almost 0.1% of its total population.<ref>{{citation|title=How Americans in India vote for US polls?|periodical=The Times of India|date=29 October 2008|access-date=6 March 2009|url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/903355.cms}}</ref>

== Culture ==

=== Music ===
American music first came to India at the turn of the 20th century, mediated to some extent through Britain and involving a significant amount of African American [[jazz]] music.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sen |first=Biswarup |date=2024-10-01 |title=Introduction: western popular music and Indian modernity |journal=South Asian History and Culture |volume=15 |issue=4 |pages=359–373 |doi=10.1080/19472498.2024.2414698 |issn=1947-2498 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

=== Sports ===
{{Excerpt|Sport in British India#North America|paragraphs=1|files=1}}

==In fiction==
''[[Outsourced (TV series)|Outsourced]]'' aired on [[NBC]] during the 2010 television season, depicting an American manager at a call center in Mumbai.<ref>{{cite news |author= |title=NBC Cancels 'Outsourced': First TV Show Set in India |url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/nri/us-canada-news/NBC-Cancels-Outsourced-First-TV-Show-Set-in-India/articleshow/8487307.cms |newspaper=Times of India |publisher=Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd |date=21 May 2011 |access-date=18 July 2014 }}</ref>

==Education==
American schools in India include:
* [[American Embassy School, New Delhi|American Embassy School]] (Delhi)
* [[American School of Bombay]]
* American International School Chennai

==Notable people==
This is a list of current and [[list of former United States citizens who relinquished their nationality|former U.S. citizens]] whose notability is related to their residence in India.
* [[Akhil Akkineni]], American actor of Indian descent, who works in [[Telugu language|Telugu]] films
*[[Tom Alter]], actor in the [[Cinema of India|Indian cinema]] industry, former U.S. citizen<ref>{{citation|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/07/06/movies/an-american-star-of-the-hindi-screen.html|title=An American Star of the Hindi Screen|periodical=The New York Times|access-date=6 March 2009|date=6 July 1989|last=Hazarika|first=Sanjoy}}</ref>
* [[Martha Chen]], American citizen and raised in India
* [[Mary Curzon, Baroness Curzon of Kedleston|Mary Curzon]], Baroness Curzon of Kedleston, CI (27 May 1870 – 18 July 1906); as Vicereine of India, she held the highest official title in history of any American woman up to her time
* [[Monica Dogra]], American singer and actor of Indian origin based in Mumbai
* [[Ellis R. Dungan]], American director who worked in [[Tamil language|Tamil]] films
* [[Goa Gil]], American-born musician, DJ, remixer and party organizer
* [[Lauren Gottlieb]], actress and dancer
* [[Nathaniel Higginson]], Governor of Madras (1692–98)
*[[Deva Katta]], an Indian-born film director who later acquired U.S. citizenship, works in [[Telugu language|Telugu]] films
* [[Imran Khan (Bollywood actor)|Imran Khan]], American actor of Indian origin, who works in [[Hindi]] films
* [[Akshay Oberoi]], an American actor of Indian origin, who works in [[Hindi]] films
* [[Jiah Khan]], British-American actress and singer
* Dr. [[Anna Sarah Kugler]], first medical missionary of the [[Evangelical Lutheran General Synod of the United States of North America]]
* [[Pooja Kumar]], American actress born to Indian immigrants; works in the Tamil industry
* [[Justin McCarthy (dancer)|Justin McCarthy]], American-born Indian [[Bharatnatyam]] dancer, instructor and choreographer
* Dr. [[Ida S. Scudder]], doctor and founder of Christian Medical College, Vellore
* [[Nandini Nimbkar]], president of the [[Nimbkar Agricultural Research Institute]] (NARI)
* [[Alexx O'Nell]], actor and singer
* [[Joseph Allen Stein]], American architect
* [[Samuel Evans Stokes]], later [[Satyananda Stokes]], came to India in 1904 to work at a leper colony in the Simla Hills, politician, freedom fighter in India's Independence Movement
* [[Romulus Whitaker]], herpetologist and wildlife conservationist, born in New York City, became an Indian citizen in 1975
* [[Elihu Yale]], [[Governor of Madras Presidency]] (1684–85, 1687–92), founder of [[Yale University]]
* [[Gadwal Vijayalakshmi]], Mayor of [[Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation]] (GHMC) since 2021. Indian-born former American citizen.<ref>{{cite web |title=From renouncing US citizenship to becoming Hyderabad mayor, the story of Vijayalaxmi |url=https://www.siasat.com/from-renouncing-us-citizenship-to-becoming-hyderabad-mayor-the-story-of-vijayalaxmi-2088027/ |website=The Siasat Daily |last=Vibhavari |first=Sruthi |date=11 February 2021 }}</ref>
* [[Amit Jogi]]. Chhattisgarh MLA (2013–2018) from [[Marwahi Assembly constituency|Marwahi]], former American citizen.
* John Packard (Grandfather of Actor [[Gavin Packard]] who came to India as a US Army veteran and stayed there.)
* Drew Hicks, A social media personality and YouTuber who got famous for speaking Bhojpuri and Hindi videos

==See also==
{{Portal|India|United States}}
*[[Indian Americans]]
*[[India–United States relations]]
{{Clear}}

==References==

===Notes===
{{reflist|3}}

===Sources===
*{{citation|last=Bhagat|first=G.|title=Americans in India, 1784–1860|publisher=New York University Press|year=1970|oclc=119335}}
**Reviewed by {{citation|doi=10.2307/1868817|title=Review: Americans in India, 1784–1860, G. Bhagat|first1=Robert A.|last1=Huttenback|date=April 1972|volume=77|journal=The American Historical Review|page=567|issue=2|publisher=American Historical Association|jstor=1868817|last2=Bhagat|first2=G.}}
*{{citation|journal=The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science|volume=368|issue=1|year=1966|pages=146–156|doi=10.1177/000271626636800114|title=Work Patterns of Americans in India|first=John|last=Useem|s2cid=146651358|ref=CITEREFJ._Useem1966}}
*{{citation|journal=The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science|volume=368|issue=1|year=1966|pages=132–145|doi=10.1177/000271626636800113|title=The American Family in India|first=Ruth Hill|last=Useem|s2cid=145784887|ref=CITEREFR._Useem1966}}
*{{citation|last=Vest|first=Eugene B.|date=October–December 1948|title=Native Words Learned by American Soldiers in India and Burma in World War II|journal=American Speech|volume=23|pages=223–231|issue=3/4|publisher=Duke University Press|doi=10.2307/486923|jstor=486923}}

==Further reading==
*Blood, Archer K. (2005). The cruel birth of Bangladesh: Memoirs of an American diplomat. Dhaka: University Press.
*{{citation|last=Heideman|first=Eugene P.|title=From Mission to Church: The Reformed Church in America Mission to India|publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing|year=2001|isbn=978-0-8028-4900-7}}
*{{citation|journal=The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science|volume=368|issue=1|year=1966|pages=157–170|doi=10.1177/000271626636800115|title=Some Minor Pathologies in the American Presence in India|first=Richard D.|last=Lambert|s2cid=145463917}}
*{{citation|title=American-Educated Indians and Americans in India: A Comparison of Two Modernizing Roles|first1=John|last1=Useem|first2=Ruth Hill|last2=Useem|journal=Journal of Social Issues|volume=24|issue=4|year=1968|pages=143–158|doi=10.1111/j.1540-4560.1968.tb02319.x }}
*{{citation|url=http://chronicle.com/article/What-I-Did-When-I-Couldnt/66281/|last=Hudson|first=Dana Andrew|journal=Chronicle of Higher Education|date=18 July 2010|access-date=27 July 2010|title=What I Did When I Couldn't Find a Job}}; a personal account from an unemployed American who moved to [[Sikkim]] to work as a newspaper editor

==External links==
*[http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=1357180n Young Americans in India], a video report from [[CBS News]]

{{Americans abroad}}
{{Immigration to India}}

[[Category:American diaspora in Asia|India]]
[[Category:American expatriates in India| ]]
[[Category:Diasporas in India|Americans]]
[[Category:American emigrants to India| ]]
[[Category:Indian people of American descent| ]]
[[Category:American emigration]]

Americans in India - Revision history

RoyalEddington6 at 08:44, 25 January 2026