India will spend close to Rs.50 crore on welfare schemes targeted at overseas Indians in 2012-13, according to budgetary estimates proposed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee.
The Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA) has been allocated a total of Rs.114.77 crore for the next fiscal, a 41 percent increase from the 2011-12 budget outlay of Rs.81 crore.
The ministry will also spend Rs.6 crore on celebrating the Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas.
The rest of the Rs.114.77 crore will go towards establishment and infrastructure expenses.
India has the world's second largest overseas community, next only to China. It is estimated that there are about 25 million Indian diaspora spread over more than 110 countries around the world.
The MOIA was established as a separate ministry in 2004 to look after the welfare of the Indian diaspora and to provide them assistance across economic, social and cultural spheres.
