Prominent individuals of South Asian descent have long made a mark in Singapore as leaders of various fields in national life.

Scholars have noted "(o)fficial figures for workers on temporary contracts are difficult to obtain because the Ministry of Manpower in Singapore considers the information sensitive.

Ethnic Malayalees, tracing their heritage to Kerala in southern India, form the second largest community, making up 7.57% of the local Indian population.

Ancient India exerted a profound influence over Southeast Asia through trade, religious missions, wars and other forms of contact.

[8] Meanwhile, the royal and sacred associations of Fort Canning Hill, the seat of ancient rulers, are related to the Hindu Mount Meru concept.

Unlike earlier forms of contact, this led to mass migration and, eventually, the formation of a large, settled and distinct population.

[13] Initially, Indian immigrants were predominantly adult men who came from India to find work, serve military duties or prison sentences for several years before returning home.

[17] Following this, Indians slowly began to settle permanently in greater numbers and the relative size of the community in colonial Singapore became stable, fluctuating between 7.7% and 9.4%.

South Indian upper caste Hindus tended to perform traditional skilled jobs, such as moneylenders (Chettiars) and priests (Brahmins).

These groups also encouraged a more direct relationship with God, unmediated by Brahmin priests and rituals, through individual devotion (stemming from the Bhakti movement), chanting Bhajans, or hymns, as well as through yoga.

The predominantly Muslim soldiers mutinied because they believed they were being sent to fight against Islamic Ottoman Empire as part of the Middle Eastern theatre of World War I.

This mutiny lasted nearly seven days, and resulted in the deaths of 47 soldiers and civilians at the hands of the mutineers, who were subsequently arrested and court-martialled; those who were found guilty of capital crimes were executed by the Singapore Volunteer Corps.

Founded in 1928 by Indian nationalists Subhas Chandra Bose and Jawaharlal Nehru, the organisation was active in Singapore and Malaya following Japan's successful Malayan Campaign in the Second World War.

In contrast, the ruling People's Action Party (PAP) espoused an ideology of social democracy which gained the support of Indian union workers.

S. Rajaratnam was one of the founding members of the PAP, and he worked to define and champion its vision of a multi-racial country, in contrast to the Malaysian model.

More left-leaning Indian leaders and intellectuals, such as C.V. Devan Nair and James Puthucheary initially supported more radically left-wing groups.

Consequently, Indians in Singapore tended to align themselves, both individually and as groups, with parties advocating specific political or economic ideologies, rather than along purely racial lines.

Traditional family businesses were superseded by government agencies or foreign multi-national corporations, which hired multi-ethnic workforces on the basis of meritocratic ability rather than kinship or ethnicity.

Although the Singapore government championed public policies and a political discourse of racial integration and national identity, it came to recognise that important differences in the socio-economic profiles of the three main races continued to endure in the post-colonial period.

In the 1980s, this approach – which was initially seen as an exceptional measure taken in the case of the Malay community – became entwined with the rhetoric of Asian values, which saw the promotion of a greater consciousness and pride in each citizen's own ethnic heritage, as a bulwark against the supposedly negative influence of Western culture.

Apart from ethnic self-help groups like SINDA (which remain controversial in Singapore), the government has in the main pursued policies emphasising racial integration and national identity.

A second phase began in the early 1990s, when immigration policies were liberalised to attract foreign professionals to boost the size and skills of the local workforce.

In addition to these professionals, unskilled foreign workers were recruited as low cost manual labour for construction sites and the cleaning sector, albeit without the prospect of permanent settlement.

[36] In terms of actual daily language use, 39% of Indian residents speak mainly English at home, and a similar number use Tamil.

Tamil content (produced locally or abroad) is available on free-to-air and cable television as well as radio channels, and in libraries, cinemas, theatres and bookshops.

[40][41] According to the latest 2020 Census, 57.3% of Singapore's Indian population declared themselves as Hindus, including 23.4% Muslims, 12.6% Christians, 4.6% other religions and 2.2% non-religious, as stated in the following statistics.

Bazaars are held in different parts of the district, with stalls selling religious paraphenilia, greeting cards, food, decorations, clothes, etc.

Some of these dishes include mince, mulligatawny soup, fish moolie, curry tiffin, pork vindaloo and spiced Mutton chop.

[43] Apart from serving the social, cultural and commercial needs of the Indian community, the area is established as one of the more historic urban districts Singapore, with a colourful personality that makes it an indelible part of the national landscape and identity.

The state-owned broadcaster Mediacorp operates two Tamil-language properties serving Singapore's Indian community—the radio station Oli 968, and television channel Vasantham.