Britain’s vote to leave the European Union has evoked apprehension among the Indian diaspora , with its concerns and expectations centred around jobs in Britain.
While ‘Brexit’ does open up the possibility of increasing skilled migration with the ‘leave’ spearheads arguing for increasing European migrants into the country, there could be greater competition resulting in fewer Indian migrants making it to the UK.
Tamil Nadu native Loganathan Ganesan, a freelance journalist in the UK, said his job was at stake as the referendum would have an adverse impact on his company headquartered in Germany. He is married to a British citizen and moved there in 2015.
“Software professionals may find things very difficult, unlike in the past. The craze for migrating to the UK may end,” the Leeds-based resident said. Britain is home to more than four lakh Tamils nearly 3.5 lakh are Sri Lankans and the rest are from Tamil Nadu.
Britain’s vote could hit India’s flagship IT sector as the exit would involve setting up headquarters in both Europe and Britain, thereby increasing overhead costs for companies. Trupti Patel, a software validation manager, said, “Uncertainty over jobs will only rise as there is already a buzz that some financial firms are considering winding up operations in the UK.”
The UK accounts for 17 per cent of the Indian IT sector’s global exports of over $100 billion (Rs 6.70 lakh crore).
The referendum has also put a question mark on the future of some 20,000 Goans who took up Portuguese citizenship to work in the UK. “Most do manual jobs in warehouses and factories. Those doing desk jobs may be just 5 per cent of Goan immigrants,” Swindon resident N Silva said. Most migrant Goans are settled in Swindon, Leicester City and London.
Sisir Bajoria, who lives in London , found the mood extremely despondent. “It will take a long time for the implications to sink in. London had voted overwhelmingly to stay,” said Bajoria, who has refractory units in the UK as well as Germany which will now be leveraged to access EU markets.
Ananya Majumder, who lives in London and runs her own leather goods retail business, said the Bengali diaspora was apprehensive, with jobs being the main worry .