For every international student coming to India, 28 Indian students went abroad

India needs to raise its ‘education-tourism’ strategy to bring in more international students, as competition from neighbouring countries has increased. The Economic Survey found that in 2024, for every international student who came to India, 28 Indian students went abroad, with significant associated foreign exchange costs.

The study calls for offering courses beyond full-time degrees and for exploring initiatives such as summer schools, semester-abroad modules, heritage and philosophy tracks, and rural-immersion labs.

India remains the principal host within South Asia, attracting over four-fifths of all inbound students to the sub-region in 2023, largely from neighbouring countries such as Nepal, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Bhutan. “However, India’s South Asian share has fallen by several percentage points since 2011, indicating rising competition from other regional and extra-regional destinations and signalling the need to refresh its regional value proposition,” noted the Economic Survey 2025-26. The annual outward remittance under the ‘studies abroad’ component increased to $3.4 billion in FY24.

The most popular countries amongst students include the US, Canada, Australia, and the UK. Despite challenges with visas and stringent post-study work visa norms introduced in many countries, the recent India-EU Free Trade Agreement is expected to increase student mobility to many European countries.

"We need to prepare our higher education institutions to be receptive to foreign students, both in the academic front and in the lifestyle dimension. For a very long time, even in terms of regulation, we have not focused on foreign students and hence are not prepared. But now, when opportunity is knocking at our doors, we need to swiftly make the right changes required," said Narayanan Ramaswamy, national leader - Education and Skill Development, Government and Public Services, KPMG in India.

Global positioning

The survey highlighted concerns that more needs to be done to attract international students to pursue higher studies. “However, to position India as an education hub, broader strategies need to be deployed. Programme diversification beyond full degrees, such as summer schools, semester-abroad modules, heritage and philosophy tracks, yoga and Ayurveda certificates, and innovation or rural-immersion labs, can be bundled with tourism circuits and tailored for BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) and wider Global South partners.”

There has been a surge in the number of foreign universities since the National Education Policy (NEP) of 2020 greenlit their entry, as many Indian students seek exposure to global education without travelling abroad. However, attracting international students is important.

Inbound students in India increased from under 7,000 in 2000-01 to around 49,000 in 2020, just before the pandemic. However, this represents only about 0.1% of total higher education enrolment, far below the levels in leading host countries, where international students account for 10-40% of enrolment. The survey also found that the number of Indians studying overseas rose from 6.85 lakh in 2016 to over 18 lakh by 2025.