London: Praising the Indian diaspora as an "asset" for India-UK relations, India's new High Commissioner Navtej Sarna on Tuesday said that though being only 1.8 per cent of Britain's population they contribute 6 per cent to the GDP.
"The India diaspora in the UK is one of the largest ethnic minority communities in the country equating to around 1.8 per cent of the population and contributing 6 per cent of the country's GDP," he said.
At an event at the British Parliament complex, he also described them as an "asset for building India-UK relations".
The event, jointly hosted by Indo-British All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) and the APPG for the Commonwealth, was held to welcome Sarna to his UK posting earlier this year.
Making a specific reference to Indian students, he flagged up the growing "visa problems" that are making Australia and New Zealand more attractive than UK universities.
His remarks came amid reports that the British government was set to increase visa fees across most categories of applications from March 18.
The move will affect thousands of Indians who were the largest group of skilled workers granted visas to live and work in Britain last year. Indians had bagged the majority of the 92,062 visas issued to skilled migrants in 2015.
