 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Indians in Venezuela" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(April 2013) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
  | |
 | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 690 | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Caracas,Valencia. | |
| Languages | |
| English · Venezuelan Spanish · Indian languages | |
| Religion | |
| Hinduism · Catholicism · Islam · Sikhism · Religions of India | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Indo-Caribbean people |
Indians in Venezuela form one of the smaller populations of theIndian diaspora. According to theIndian Ministry of External Affairs (IMEA), among the approximately 690 East Indians living inVenezuela, 400 were Venezuelans of East Indian origin, 280 were Indian citizens and 10 were stateless residents.[1] However, unofficial records put theIndo-Caribbean community fromGuyana,Suriname,Jamaica andTrinidad and Tobago over 50,000.[2]
During the oil-related high-income years of the 1970s, there were around 400NRIs in Venezuela.[citation needed] The Indian community consisted of personnel from the petroleum and petrochemical sectors, as well as a large number of traders. Many of them had taken their families with them to Venezuela. Most of the traders belonged to theSindhi community but there were also some persons fromTamil Nadu,Gujarat andPunjab.[citation needed]
When theoil boom ended in 1982, followed by devaluation of the local currency, many of the NRIs decided to seek their fortunes elsewhere.[citation needed] Currently, the diaspora has been whittled down to half its former size.