Thai Indians are Thai people with full or partial

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

ancestry. But these ancestral ties are usually left out of statistics. About 65,000 Indian Thais have full Thai citizenship, but around 400,000 persons of Indian origin settled in

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

mainly in the urban cities.

Migration history

Since ancient time, there have been various exchanges between the Indians and Thailand. Modern Indian communities have been around since the 1860s of the British Raj era. Most of the Indians arrived in the last century, notably from

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, whose Tamil language ...

and other areas of

Southern India South India, also known as Dakshina Bharata or Peninsular India, consists of the peninsular southern part of India. It encompasses the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana, as well as the union territ ...

. Some others came from

Northern India North India is a loosely defined region consisting of the northern part of India. The dominant geographical features of North India are the Indo-Gangetic Plain and the Himalayas, which demarcate the region from the Tibetan Plateau and Central ...

such as

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi Language, Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also Romanization, romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the I ...

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern ...

and some from

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

and

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Indian religion or '' dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global p ...

originally arrived in Thailand from

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

and spread over the centuries. The historical number of the Indian population in Thailand can be seen in British consular statistics; however, these figures often lumped Indians together with Sinhalese and Malays. According to 1912 statistics, there were 30 Indians registered in the Chiengmai (

Chiang Mai Chiang Mai (, from th, เชียงใหม่ , nod, , เจียงใหม่ ), sometimes written as Chiengmai or Chiangmai, is the largest city in northern Thailand, the capital of Chiang Mai province and the second largest city in ...

) consular district, 41 Indians and Malays in the Puket (

Phuket Phuket (; th, ภูเก็ต, , ms, Bukit or ''Tongkah''; Hokkien:普吉; ) is one of the southern provinces (''changwat'') of Thailand. It consists of the island of Phuket, the country's largest island, and another 32 smaller islands o ...

) consular district, 40 Indians and Malays in the Senggora (

Songkhla Songkhla ( th, สงขลา, ), also known as Singgora or Singora ( Pattani Malay: ซิงกอรอ), is a city (''thesaban nakhon'') in Songkhla Province of southern Thailand, near the border with Malaysia. Songkhla lies south of B ...

) consular district, and 423 Indians, Sinhalese, and Malays in the

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estimated populati ...

consular district. These figures were also believed to be a gross undercount of the true population; for example, the Bangkok consular district had registered only 517 British subjects, but other estimates claimed the number was 20 times higher.

Notable people

* Aloke Lohia - Billionaire Businessman * Ammar Siamwalla - One of Thailand's most prominent economists *

Lek Nana Lek Nana ( th, เล็ก นานา; 1924–1 April 2010) was a Thai businessman and politician. He was one of the founders of Thailand's Democrat Party at the end of World War II. Lek Nana served as Deputy Foreign Minister as well as Min ...

- Businessman and Politician *

Napakpapha Nakprasitte Napakpapha Nakprasitte ( th, นภคปภา นาคประสิทธิ์; , and better known as Mamee, born April 19, 1981) is a Thai film actress. She is sometimes credited as Napakapa Nakprasit. Education Dhurakij Pundit Universit ...

- Thai actress and Model * Savika Chaiyadej - Thai soap actress *

Nishita Shah Nishita Shah is a Thai businesswoman of Indian descent. She is currently the largest individual shareholder and director of Precious Shipping, one of Thailand's large dry-bulk shipping companies. She is also the managing director of GP Group, a 14 ...

- Businesswoman *

Ratana Pestonji Rattana Pestonji ( th, รัตน์ เปสตันยี; ) was a Thai film director, producer, screenwriter and cinematographer and is regarded as the father of contemporary Thai film. Although his filmography was brief, his films placed ...

- Thai film director, producer, screenwriter and cinematographer *

Santi Thakral Santi Thakral ( th, สันติ ทักราล; ; 1942–2011) was a member of the Privy Council of King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand. Prior to becoming Privy Councillor, he was President of the Supreme Court of Thailand. Early life and ...

- Member of the Privy Council of King

Bhumibol Adulyadej Bhumibol Adulyadej ( th, ภูมิพลอดุลยเดช; ; ; ( Sanskrit: ''bhūmi·bala atulya·teja'' - "might of the land, unparalleled brilliance"); 5 December 192713 October 2016), conferred with the title King Bhumibol the Grea ...

of Thailand * Vidya Dhar Shukla - Chief Hindu priest of Thailand

References

External links

India Thailand TradeThai Indian UpdateThaindian.comThai Sikh Organization

Masala Magazine for Indians In Thailand
{{Ethnic groups in Thailand Indians India–Thailand relations

Migration history

Notable people

See also

References

External links