Over 2 lakh Indians gave up citizenship in 2024, reveals government data

The Ministry of External Affairs shared the data in response to a question on renouncement of Indian citizenship, asked in Rajya Sabha.

Updated on: Jul 25, 2025, 04:47:37 IST

By HT News Desk

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More than 2 lakh Indians gave up their citizenship in 2024, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Thursday. While the figure is similar to that of the previous year, it is slightly lower, data shared by the government revealed.

The figure of 2,06,378 Indians in 2024 is slightly lower than the data recorded in 2023 and 2022, but is higher than that in 2021, 2020 and 2019. ( (Getty Images/iStockphoto))

MoS Kirti Vardhan Singh shared the data in response to a question on renouncement of Indian citizenship, asked in Rajya Sabha.

A look at how many Indians let go of citizenship in previous years:

2024: 2,06,378
2023: 2,16,219
2022: 2,25,620
2021: 1,63,370
2020: 85,256
2019: 1,44,017

The Ministry of External Affairs was asked if it was aware that there was an upward trend in the number of Indians relinquishing Indian citizenship.

However, the data shared in response to the question showed that there was no linear increase in the number of people who gave up their Indian citizenship since 2019.

The figure of 2,06,378 Indians in 2024 is slightly lower than the data recorded in 2023 and 2022, but is higher than that in 2021, 2020 and 2019.

How Indian citizenship is renounced

The government was also asked if it undertakes a through inspection before acceding to the request of giving up Indian citizenship. In response, it detailed the procedure under which one can relinquish the citizenship.

In order to give up citizenship, one has to make an application at https://www.indiancitizenshiponline.nic.in.

After this, their original passport and other details will be verified, upon which the documents will be sent to relevant government departments for their feedback, to be submitted within 30 days.

Once the particulars of the declaration made by the applicant are verified, the renunciation certificate is approved online after 30 days of acknowledgement.

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