Indians in Poland

Indians in Poland consist of migrants from India to Poland and their locally born descendants. The estimations of the number of Indians in Poland is 38,000 by governmental sources.Ministry of External Affairs, India (2021) Population of Overseas Indians p.5Pędziwiatr, K., Kugiel, P. (2014) The Indian Diaspora and Poland–India Relations. PISM Report p.5Namaste-Polsko, Sytuacja i potrzeby imigrantów z Indii w Polsce. Iwona Bąbiak, Katarzyna Gmaj (ed) (2015) Namaste-Polsko p.79

Migration history Indians started migrating to Poland in the late 1980s and early 1990s when the political situation in Poland changed, and new opportunities started to emerge.Kontynent-Warszawa- On Indian community in Warsaw Most of them are businessmen who migrated to Poland to take advantage of the economic boom after Warsaw opted for a free-market economy in 1989 and joined the European Union in 2004. In 2007, Poland signed an agreement with India to admit more Indian migrant workers as part of an effort to ameliorate labour shortages caused by the outward migration of hundreds of thousands of Polish workers to wealthier countries in the European Union.Poland: The Next Hot Destination for Indians Newer groups of Indians in Poland are students and academics.Pędziwiatr, K., Kugiel, P. (2015) Poland as a Study Destination: The Case of Indians at Polish Universities, In: Surdej, A., Kędzierski, M., (ed.) Economic Challenges for Higher Education in Central and Eastern Europe, Wydawnictwo Adam Marszałek, Toruń, 187-213 Recent research shows that the Indian community has been well integrated into Polish society.Pędziwiatr, K., Kugiel, P. (2014) The Indian Diaspora and Poland–India Relations. PISM Report

Number of work permits for Indian citizens and number of Indian students enrolled in Polish universities Year Total number of work permits for foreigners issued Of which for Indians (%)Number of work permits for Indian citizens* Academic year Number of Indian students enrolled in Polish universities 2010 36 800 3,2 1 189Namaste-Polsko, Sytuacja i potrzeby imigrantów z Indii w Polsce. Iwona Bąbiak, Katarzyna Gmaj (ed) (2015) Namaste-Polsko p.16 2009-10 227Namaste-Polsko, Sytuacja i potrzeby imigrantów z Indii w Polsce. Iwona Bąbiak, Katarzyna Gmaj (ed) (2015) Namaste-Polsko p.18 2011 40 808 2,6 1 055 2010-11 148 2012 39 144 2,78% 1 088 2011-12 189 2013 39 078 3,33% 1 301 2012-13 204 2014 43 663 2,84% 1 240 2013-14 321 2015 65 786 2,17% 1 428 2014-15 545 2016 127 394 1,39% 1 771 2015-16 896 2017 235 626 1,61% 3 794 2016-17 2 138 2018 328 768 2,54% 8 362 2017-18 2 987 2019 * *% * 2018-19 3600 (preliminary data) (Calculated on basis of col. 1 and col. 2)

Religion

The Indian community in Poland is primarily composed of Hindus and Sikhs. Hinduism began to spread in the country through the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) missionaries starting in 1976. The first Hindu temple in Poland, the New Shantipur Temple, was established in 1980 in Czarnów, Lower Silesian Voivodeship.Polish ISKCON history (in Polish), accessed 2010.8.4 A second Hindu temple, known as Hindu Bhavan, was constructed in Warsaw.Pakistan Hindu Post - Poland to get a Hindu temple by August The Indian community hopes that the temple sensitizes the community's youth towards Indian tradition and customs, as well as to use the new place of worship as a tool to integrate with Polish society.

There are about 120 Sikh families in Warsaw headed by J J Singh, the most prominent Indian, who is also the president of Indo Polish Chamber of Commerce and Industries. The city's Sikh Gurdwara the only Sikh shrine in the whole of Central Europe, and it is the place where both Sikhs and Sindhi's come together to celebrate Baisakhi. The Kerala Association of Poland conducts Onam, the festival of Keralites year on year, headed by Pradeep Nayar and Chandramohan Nallur. The Association of Bengalis in Poland headed by Pradipto Maulik together with Durga Puja Committee conduct the 3–4 day long festival of Durga Puja. Durgotsav is the largest Indian community festival in Poland. Gujaratis, who came from the state of Gujarat,Marathis, who came from state of Maharashtra and Tamils, who came from the state of Tamil Nadu in India and other Indian communities from its other regions also have their associations and celebrate Holi, Dandya and Pongal respectively.

Indians in Poland

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