South Indian diaspora

In the medieval period, Tamilians emigrated as soldiers, traders and labourers settled in Malaysia, Singapore, Réunion, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Myanmar and intermixed well with local population, while few communities still maintain their language and culture.

Many groups still claim descent from medieval-era Tamil emigrants such as the Kaikadis of Maharashtra, Chittys of Malaysia, and the Sri Lankan Chetties, Bharatha people.

These groups then dominated the trade and finance in Myanmar, Malaysia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Mauritius, South Africa and other places.

[1] These Tamilians well integrated, assimilated with their adopted countries, and became part and parcel of local populations in Réunion, Mauritius, South Africa, Guyana, and Fiji.

The Telugu Boom refers to the migration of a large number of Telugu speaking people from the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana to the United States of America and Canada from late 80s largely consisting of the migration of students and Information Technology workers which continues to the present day.