Indian Community in Belgium
There are about 7,000 persons of Indian origin in Belgium.
The average per capita income of Belgium is US$ 23,861. While the per capita income of the Indian community is not available, they are mainly to be found in the professional and more prosperous sections of society. Indians are employed in Software, the Diamond business and a few local industries in cities like Antwerp, Ghent, Brussels and Liege.
A section of immigrants from Palanpur district in Gujarat had entered the port city of Antwerp to work with the Jewish community in the diamond business, and eventually started their own.
The Antwerp Indians still form a very tightly knit group and actively celebrate Indian festivals.
Indian Software companies like Aricent, HCL, TCS and Infosys have a presence in Belgium while Indian Software Professionals are in great demand by multinationals like Swift, Compaq and Alcatel, because they are generally cheaper to employ than local Europeans with the same skills. The professional Indians in Belgium represent the modern, youthful face of India.
Some Farm labourers and Shop-hands, mainly immigrants from North India have also managed to enter Belgium illegally
Read more about this topic: Hinduism In Belgium
Famous quotes containing the words indian and/or community:
“The Indian resists curiosity by a stony silence. The Negro offers a featherbed resistance. That is, we let the probe enter, but it never comes out. It gets smothered under a lot of laughter and pleasantries.”
—Zora Neale Hurston (1891–1960)
“Agitators are a set of interfering, meddling people, who come down to some perfectly contented class of the community and sow the seeds of discontent amongst them. That is the reason why agitators are so absolutely necessary. Without them, in our incomplete state, there would be no advance towards civilisation.”
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)