2 min readNew DelhiMay 11, 2026 04:10 AM IST
In an effort to build a comprehensive database of Indian students abroad, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has initiated awareness campaigns, asking students to register with the respective embassies and high commissions.
The move comes in the wake of the recent Russia-Ukraine and US-Iran conflicts, when a large number of Indian students reached out to the missions and had to be evacuated to safety.
While over a million Indians are estimated to be studying abroad, the government has no specific database, mostly depending on foreign countries which release their student visa numbers at the end of each year and Indian missions which collate data to arrive at its estimates.
In 2015, the MEA had launched the MADAD portal to serve as a consular grievance redressal platform, where Indian students were asked to register voluntarily. But it hasn’t gained much traction — only 41,000 students have registered so far, according to the ministry’s website.
The ministry is now planning to overhaul the portal or launch a new website for Indians going abroad for jobs and education.
According to sources, the awareness campaign is especially focussed on countries where Indian students comprise a large part of the international student population — like the United States, China, Malaysia, Germany and Canada — as well as in upcoming destinations which are emerging as new hubs for cheaper medical education, like Georgia, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan.
In Georgia, which has an estimated 23,000 Indian nationals — mostly medical students studying in and around Tbilisi — India recently appointed Amit Mishra as its first full-time ambassador. The Indian mission there has started an outreach to educational institutions and student groups to understand the issues they are facing, as also to advise them. “We have held several meetings and sessions with student groups and educational institutions over the past one month,” Mishra told The Indian Express from Tbilisi.
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Some students miss deadlines for their visas and other paperwork, there have also been cases of students engaging in petty crimes, leading to their disqualification from universities or action by authorities, he said.
