Indian Americans – A Story of Achievement and a $20 billion Buying Power

• There are now more than 1.5 million peoples of Indian origin in America. They reflect the multi-ethnic, multi-religious and multi-lingual society of India.

• Indian Americans are represented in many fields including academics and entrepreneurs, doctors and lawyers, engineers and financiers.

• According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Indian American median family income is $60,093 as against the national median family income of $38, 885. The high income clearly reflects the advanced educational levels achieved by the community.

• More than 87% of Indians in America have completed high school while at least 62% have some college education. As much as 58% of Indian Americans over the age of 25 hold a bachelor's degree or higher.

• High levels of education have also enabled Indian Americans to become a productive segment of the U. S. population, with 72.3% participating in the work force.

• Of these work force participants, 43.6% are employed in managerial and professional specialties.

• Technical, sales, and administrative support occupations constitute another 33.2% of the work force.

• The remaining 23.3% of the population works in other areas, such as operators, fabricators, laborers and precision production.

• More than 5,000 Indian Americans today serve as faculty members in institutions of higher education in the U. S.

• About 300,000 Indian Americans work in technology firms in California’s Silicon Valley. They account for more than 15% of high-tech startups in that region. The median income of Indian Americans in that region is estimated to be $125,000 (average $200,000) a year.

• Two Indian Americans - Har Gobind Khorana of Massachusetts Institute of Technology and late Subrahmanyan Chandrashekhar of University of Chicago - have been awarded the Nobel Prize, in medicine and physics respectively.

• In deed, the NASA's premier X-ray observatory was named the Chandra X-ray Observatory in honor of the late Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar. Known to the world as Chandra, he was widely regarded as one of the foremost astrophysicists of the twentieth century. The observatory was launched into space in July 1999.

• Dr. Kalpana Chawla added a new chapter to the history of the Indian American community.  In 1997, She became the first Indian or Indian American to fly in the US space shuttle. She was part of the Space Shuttle Columbia Flight STS-87.

• The estimated annual buying power of Indian Americans in the United States is around $ 20 billion.

• Indian Americans are increasingly beginning to take a more direct role in political activities. They have traditionally exercised the most political influence through their campaign contributions, and are actively involved in fundraising efforts for political candidates on the federal, state and local levels.

• As a result of these activities, together with the growing commercial interest in investment in India, the India caucus in the House of Representatives now numbers 118.