MENA Newswire, NEW DELHI: India has emerged as the world’s largest source country of international students, the Economic Survey 2025-26 said, highlighting a sharp rise in the number of Indians studying overseas alongside comparatively low inbound mobility to Indian campuses. The survey, tabled in Parliament on January 29, sets out the scale of cross-border education flows and flags internationalisation of higher education as a policy priority under the National Education Policy 2020.
The survey said the number of Indians studying abroad has climbed from 6.85 lakh in 2016 to more than 18 lakh by 2025. It placed that increase in a global context, noting that the stock of internationally mobile students worldwide rose from about 22 lakh in 2001 to 69 lakh in 2022, with the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, France and Germany among the principal host countries.
In 2024, for every one international student coming to India, 28 Indian students went abroad, the survey said. It also reported that annual outward remittances under the “studies abroad” component increased to USD 3.4 billion in FY24, pointing to significant foreign exchange costs linked to education-related spending overseas. The survey said Indian students abroad are highly concentrated in a small set of destinations, including Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia.
Inbound student numbers remain modest by comparison. The survey said international students in India increased from under 7,000 in 2000-01 to around 49,000 in 2020, just before the pandemic, but this still represented about 0.10% of total higher education enrolment. It contrasted that with leading host countries where international students typically account for 10% to 40% of enrolments.
International student flows into India
Within South Asia, the survey said India remains the principal host, attracting more than four-fifths of all inbound students to the sub-region in 2023, largely from neighbouring countries such as Nepal, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Bhutan. It added that India’s South Asian share has fallen by several percentage points since 2011, while describing the need to refresh the country’s regional value proposition as competition rises from other destinations.
The survey also pointed to shifts within India’s own inbound map. It said earlier hubs such as Karnataka and Tamil Nadu have seen declines in international student enrolment, while Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh have emerged as hosts. Thirteen academic programmes account for over 1,000 foreign students each, led by Bachelor of Technology, Bachelor of Business Administration and Bachelor of Science, which the survey linked to India’s strength in cost-effective, English-medium STEM and management education.
Internationalisation measures and regulatory changes
The survey said limited international visibility of most institutions and regulatory frictions have constrained India’s ability to convert its scale and cost advantages into a stronger pull for foreign students. It outlined policy steps intended to support internationalisation, including University Grants Commission regulations on academic collaboration between Indian and foreign higher education institutions issued in 2022 to enable twinning, joint and dual degree programmes, and it noted that 100% foreign direct investment is permitted in higher education.
It also cited the UGC regulations issued in 2023 for setting up and operating campuses of foreign higher educational institutions in India, under which 15 foreign institutions are expected to establish campuses. The survey described internationalisation as extending beyond collaborations and exchanges to include recruiting international faculty, enrolling foreign students and building overseas research partnerships, alongside domestic investments in infrastructure and academic standards through initiatives such as the Higher Education Funding Agency and the World-Class Institutions Scheme.