| Filipino people of Indian descent: |
| Total population |
|---|
| 38,000[1][2] |
| Regions with significant populations |
| Metro Manila · Cainta · Cebu City · Davao |
| Languages |
| Religion |
|
Hinduism · Roman Catholicism · Sikhism · Islam · Buddhism |
| Related ethnic groups |
Indian Filipinos are Philippine citizens of Indian descent. This also refers to Filipino citizens of either pure or mixed Indian descent currently residing in the country, the latter a result of intermarriages between the Indians and local populations.
Contents |
India had greatly influenced the many different cultures of the Philippines through the Indianized kingdom of the Hindu Majapahit, Khmer Empire and the Buddhist Srivijaya.[3] Indian presence in the Philippines has been ongoing since prehistoric times along with the Chinese and Japanese, predating even the coming of the Europeans by at least two millennia. Indians, together with the natives of the Indonesian Archipelago and the Malay Peninsula, traded with natives and introduced and passed Hinduism and Buddhism to the natives of the Philippines. It were the Indian Baniyas converts to Islam who brought Sunni Islam in the Philippine islands.[4]
Sepoy troops from Madras (now Chennai, Tamil Nadu), British India also arrived with the British expedition and occupation between 1762 and 1764 during the Seven Years' War. When the British withdrew, many of the Sepoys mutinied and refused to leave. Virtually all had taken Filipina brides (or soon did so). They settled in what is now Cainta, Rizal, just east of Metro Manila.[5] As of 2006, between 70 and 75 percent of Indians in the Philippines lived in Metro Manila, with the largest community outside of Manila being in Isabela province.[6] The region in and around Cainta still has many Sepoy descendants.
During the 1930s and 1940s, many Indians and Indian Filipinos lived in Filipino provinces, including Davao, which at the time had, and still have, many Japanese Filipinos and Japanese expatriates. When the economy of the Philippines were based in Manila, many moved there, which explains why today half of the Indian and Indian Filipino community are now based there.
Most of the Indians and Indian Filipinos in the Philippines are Sindhi and Punjabi as well as a large Tamil population. Many are fluent in Tagalog and English as well as the local language of the provinces and islands. Many are prosperous middle and higher class with their main occupations in clothing sales and marketing. Sikhs are involved largely in finance, and sales and marketing. Most of the Indian Filipinos and Indian expatriates are Hindu and Sikh, but have assimilated into Filipino culture and some are Catholic. There is a main Hindu and Sikh temple in Manila.
Many Indians have intermarried with Filipinos, more so than in neighboring countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, mainly because their populations are largely Muslim, and the Indians there (with the exception of Indian-Muslims) are averse to marrying Muslims in those host countries.
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