Executive Summary:
This document is a response to Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 973 regarding Pravasi Bharatiya Seva Kendras (PBSKs). It details the number and function of PBSKs, fund allocation, measures to protect Indian workers abroad, and repatriation efforts. The response includes data on evacuations under various operations from 2021 to 2025 and state-wise lists of repatriated citizens.
Key Points / Main Content:
Pravasi Bharatiya Seva Kendras (PBSKs):
* There are four functional PBSKs abroad: Kuala Lumpur, Dubai, Jeddah, and Riyadh.
* In India, there is one PBSK in Delhi and six Kshetriya PBSKs (KPBSKs) in Kochi, Hyderabad, Chennai, Lucknow, Patna, and Chandigarh.
Financial Information:
* Expenditure for overseas PBSKs is covered by the Indian Community Welfare Fund (ICWF) based on means-tested assistance, with no specific budget allocated.
* For PBSK and KPBSKs in India, allocated funds were INR 2.19 crores, with INR 2.11 crores expended in the financial year 2024-25.
Services Provided by PBSKs Abroad:
* Kuala Lumpur: Complaint resolution, consular assistance, death compensation, medical assistance, assistance to distressed women, financial assistance, and regularization of overstaying Indians.
* Dubai: Job offer verification, employment contract and visa support, financial fraud awareness, and a 24/7 helpline for grievance redressal.
* Jeddah and Riyadh: 24/7 help desk, document processing for final exit, death, and compensation cases, and assistance with forms and applications.
Protection of Indian Workers Abroad:
* Recruitment is conducted via the eMigrate portal for a digital, transparent, and safe process.
* The eMigrate portal includes a dedicated helpline and support system.
* Advisories and alerts on fake job offers and fraudulent agencies are hosted on the portal.
* Initiatives include Pravasi Bhartiya Bima Yojna (PBBY) and Pre-Departure Orientation Training (PDOT).
* State-run Recruiting Agencies (RAs) are authorized to recruit female ECR category workers for Gulf and other ECR countries.
* A minimum age of 30 is required for female workers in the ECR category.
Repatriation of Stranded Indians:
* Repatriation is initiated when Indian Missions receive information about stranded nationals due to issues like inadequate amenities, unpaid salaries, or visa violations.
* Indian Missions issue Emergency Certificates (ECs) gratis to facilitate return.
Evacuation Operations (2021-2025):
* Operation Devi Shakti (Afghanistan, 2021): 669 people evacuated.
* Operation Ganga (Ukraine, 2022): 18,282 people evacuated.
* Operation Kaveri (Sudan, 2023): 4,097 people evacuated.
* Operation Ajay (Israel, 2023): 1,343 people evacuated.
* Operation Indravati (Haiti, 2024): 17 people evacuated.
* Evacuations from Syria (2024): 77 people evacuated.
* Operation Sindhu (Iran, 2025): 3597 people evacuated.
* Operation Sindhu (Israel, 2025): 818 people evacuated.
Impact Analysis:
Indian Workers Intending to Work Abroad:
* Impact: Benefit from a more transparent and safer emigration process through the eMigrate portal, awareness programs (PDOT), and welfare schemes (PBBY). Enhanced protection against exploitation, especially for female ECR category workers.
* Action Required: Utilize the eMigrate portal for recruitment, attend PDOT, and be aware of their rights and available welfare schemes.
Indian Missions Abroad:
* Impact: Responsible for assisting and repatriating stranded Indian nationals, issuing Emergency Certificates.
* Action Required: Coordinate with local authorities to facilitate the return of stranded Indians.
Ministry of External Affairs:
* Impact: Oversight of the PBSKs, the eMigrate portal, and various initiatives aimed at protecting Indian workers abroad.
* Action Required: Maintain and update the eMigrate portal, monitor the functioning of PBSKs, and continue to develop and implement policies for the welfare of Indian workers abroad.
Key Entities Referenced
Pravasi Bharatiya Seva Kendras (PBSKs): Functional centers providing assistance to Indian diaspora, both within India and abroad.
Indian Community Welfare Fund (ICWF): Fund utilized for expenditure on services and assistance rendered under PBSKs abroad, adhering to specific guidelines.
eMigrate portal: A web-based application facilitating the emigration process, making it digital, transparent, and efficient.
Pravasi Bhartiya Bima Yojna (PBBY): An insurance scheme for Indian emigrant workers, ensuring safe migration and access to welfare schemes.
Pre-Departure Orientation Training (PDOT): Training program aimed at enhancing the soft skills of Indian emigrant workers, including culture, language, and local rules of the destination country.
Operation Ganga: Government of India's operation to evacuate stranded Indian nationals from Ukraine.
Operation Kaveri: Government of India's operation to evacuate stranded Indian nationals from Sudan.
Operation Ajay: Government of India's operation to evacuate stranded Indian nationals from Israel.
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS
LOK SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION NO- 973
ANSWERED ON - 25/07/2025
PRAVASI BHARATIYA SEVA KENDRAS
973. SHRI ARVIND DHARMAPURI
Will the Minister of EXTERNAL AFFAIRS be pleased to state:-
(a) the total number of functional Pravasi Bharatiya Sahayata Kendras
(PBSKs) nation-wise;
(b) the amount of fund allocated and utilized to PBSKs, nation-wise
alongwith steps taken to sensitise workers on rights and safety before
emigration especially to Gulf countries; and
(c) whether the Government maintains a database of the total number of
indians stranded abroad and subsequently repatriated, if so, the details
thereof along with the reasons of repatriation, State/UT-wise?
1ANSWER
THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS
(SHRI KIRTI VARDHAN SINGH)
(a) & (b) There are four functional Pravasi Bharatiya Seva Kendras (PBSKs)
abroad – Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), Dubai (UAE), Jeddah and Riyadh (Saudi
Arabia). Apart from overseas PBSKs, there is a PBSK in Delhi and six
Kshetriya Pravasi Bharatiya Seva Kendras (KPBSKs) in Kochi, Hyderabad,
Chennai, Lucknow, Patna and Chandigarh.
Expenditure on services/assistance rendered under PBSKs abroad is
incurred from the Indian Community Welfare Fund (ICWF) and are on
means-tested basis adhering to the guidelines of utilisation of ICWF. No
specific budget or funds are allocated towards PBSKs abroad.
In case of PBSK and KPBSKs in India, the amount of fund allocation and
utilization in the last year is given below:
Financial year Allocated funds (in Expenditure incurred (in INR)
INR)
2024-25 2.19 crores 2.11 crores
2Nation-wise details of services provided PBSKs abroad are given below:
Sl. PBSK Core Services
No.
1. Kuala • Resolution of Indian workers’ complaints
Lumpur • Consular assistance to Indian detainees
(Malaysia) • Death compensation
• Assistance in medical cases
• Assistance to distressed women
• Financial assistance
• Regularisation of over stayed Indians
2. Dubai • Support related to verification of job offer letter,
(UAE) employment contract and visa
• Sensitization about financial fraud
• Grievance redressal mechanism through 24*7 helpline
3. Jeddah • 24*7 help desk services for offering assistance,
(Saudi guidance and counseling
Arabia) • Collecting and processing of all documents with
regard to final exit, death cases and compensation cases
3etc.
• It assists Indian workers in filling up different forms
and applications
4. Riyadh • 24*7 help desk services for offering assistance,
(Saudi guidance and counseling
Arabia) • Collecting and processing of all documents with
regard to final exit, death cases and compensation cases
etc.
• It assists Indian workers in filling up different forms
and applications
The Government of India accords highest priority to the safety, protection
and well-being of Indian workers intending to work abroad. The process of
their recruitment is conducted through a web-based application i.e.
eMigrate portal. The web-based application makes the process of
emigration fully digital, transparent, safe, legal, humane, efficient,
convenient, and faster. It seamlessly brings all stakeholders, including
Foreign Employers (FEs), registered Recruiting Agents (RAs) and the
4prospective emigrants on a common platform and enables the Ministry of
External Affairs to capture comprehensive and online database. A
dedicated helpline and support system is also available to assist emigrants
and other stakeholders to address any query/issue. The advisories/alerts on
fake job offers and fraudulent/unregistered recruitment agencies are
hosted on the portal.
Further, the Government has taken several initiatives such as Pravasi
Bhartiya Bima Yojna (PBBY) and Pre-Departure Orientation & Training
(PDOT) in ensuring that Indian migrant workers undertake safe migration,
have decent working and living conditions in destination countries, are
aware of their rights and have access to various welfare schemes of the
Government. PDOT is aimed at enhancing the soft skills of Indian emigrant
workers, in terms of culture, language, tradition and local rules and
regulations of the destination country.
Further, as additional safeguard for protection and safety of the ECR
Category Female workers (including domestic sector workers) who are
often in the most vulnerable category, Government has authorized only
State run Recruiting Agencies (RAs) to recruit Indian female ECR category
workers for overseas employment in Gulf and other ECR Category
5Countries through the e-Migrate Portal. Moreover, there is a minimum age
criteria of 30 years for female workers holding ECR category passport and
traveling overseas for employment purposes, in order to protect them
against exploitation.
(c) There are various reasons for repatriation which are attributed to
inadequate basic amenities, non-payment of salary, denial of emergency
leave by the employer, forceful retention of passports by the employer, long
working hours, violation of visa norms etc. Whenever Indian Missions
abroad receive information regarding stranded Indian nationals due to
various reasons efforts are made to repatriate such individuals to India
with coordination of the local authorities. Indian Missions abroad facilitate
the return of such Indian nationals by issuing Emergency Certificates (ECs)
to them on a gratis basis.
Data of evacuated Indian nationals under various Government of India
operations in the last five years is given in Annexure A.
6ANNEXURE A
Operation-wise details of evacuation of stranded Indian nationals
Year Country & Name of the Total number of people evacuated
Operation (including foreign nationals)
Afghanistan 669
(including 15 other foreign
2021 Operation Devi Shakti nationals and 206 Afghans, which
includes members of the Afghan
Hindu/Sikh minority)
Ukraine
18,282
2022
Operation Ganga
Sudan
4,097
2023
(including 136 foreign nationals)
Operation Kaveri
7Israel 1,343
2023 (including 14 OCI card holders and
Operation Ajay 20 foreign nationals)
Haiti 17
2024
Operation Indravati
2024 Syria 77
Iran
2025 3597
Operation Sindhu
Israel
2025 818
Operation Sindhu
State-wise list of Indian citizens evacuated under Operation Ganga
Sl. No. State / Union Territory Number
1 Andaman & Nicobar 4
2 Andhra Pradesh 682
3 Arunachal Pradesh 1
4 Assam 53
5 Bihar 1003
86 Chandigarh 52
7 Chhattisgarh 210
8 Dadar & Nagar Haveli 5
9 Daman & Diu 5
10 Delhi 681
11 Goa 18
12 Gujarat 1020
13 Haryana 1436
14 Himachal Pradesh 289
15 Jammu & Kashmir 128
16 Jharkhand 158
17 Karnataka 615
18 Kerala 3343
19 Lakshadweep 4
20 Madhya Pradesh 412
21 Maharashtra 1025
922 Manipur 23
23 Meghalaya 40
24 Mizoram 1
25 Nagaland 4
26 Odisha 397
27 Puducherry 28
28 Punjab 609
29 Rajasthan 934
30 Sikkim 26
31 Tamil Nadu 1479
32 Telangana 667
33 Tripura 32
34 Uttar Pradesh 1917
35 Uttarakhand 257
36 West Bengal 343
37 State Name not available 272
TOTAL 18282
10State-wise list of Indian citizens evacuated under Operation Kaveri
Sl.No. State / Union Territory Number
1. Andhra Pradesh 106
2. Assam 13
3. Bihar 370
4. Chandigarh 1
5. Chhattisgarh 3
6. Delhi 27
7. Gujarat 492
8. Haryana 39
9. Himachal Pradesh 25
10. Jammu and Kashmir 1
11. Jharkhand 62
12. Karnataka 418
13. Kerala 172
14. Madhya Pradesh 20
1115. Maharashtra 337
16. Manipur 1
17. Nagaland 3
18. Odisha 86
19. Punjab 62
20. Puducherry 7
21. Rajasthan 87
22. Tamil Nadu 244
23. Telangana 129
24. Uttar Pradesh 800
25. Uttarakhand 24
26. West Bengal 52
27. State Name not available 380
28. Total Indian Citizens 3961
29. Foreign Nationals (British- 3 +
Sudanese-124 + Nepalese – 9) 136
1230. GRAND TOTAL (3961 + 136) 4097
State-wise list of Indian citizens evacuated under Operation Ajay
Sl. No. State Number
1. Andhra Pradesh 45
2. Assam 20
3. Bihar 29
4. Chattisgarh 6
5. Delhi 36
6. Goa 3
7. Gujarat 34
8. Haryana 28
9. Himachal Pradesh 18
10. Jammu & Kashmir 9
11. Jharkhand 13
12. Karnataka 39
13. Kerala 121
1314. Madhya Pradesh 14
15. Maharashtra 108
16. Manipur 23
17. Meghalaya 2
18. Mizoram 1
19. Nagaland 2
20. Odisha 20
21. Punjab 9
22. Rajasthan 33
23. Sikkim 11
24. Tamil Nadu 131
25. Telangana 70
26. Uttar Pradesh 145
27. Uttarakhand 14
28. West Bengal 248
29. States not mentioned 77
TOTAL INDIAN CITIZENS 1309
14OCI Card holders (14) &
Nepalese (20) 34
GRAND TOTAL (1309 + 34) 1343
State-wise list of Indian citizens evacuated under Operation Indravati
Sl. No. State Number
1 Madhya Pradesh 1
2 Gujarat 1
3 Maharashtra 1
4 Karnataka 2
5 Tamil Nadu 3
6 Uttar Pradesh 1
7 Telangana 1
8 New Delhi 1
9 Kerala 1
10 Odisha 1
11 Unregistered 4
Total 17
15State-wise list of Indian citizens evacuated from Syria
Sl No. State/ UT Number of Evacuees
01 J & K 45
02 Bihar 08
03 Uttar Pradesh 06
04 Andhra Pradesh 05
05 Tamil Nadu 05
06 Odisha 01
07 Rajasthan 01
08 Assam 01
09 Haryana 01
10 Punjab 01
11 West Begal 01
12 Kerala 01
13 Puducherry (UT) 01
TOTAL 77
16State-wise list of Indian citizens evacuated from IRAN under Operation
Sindhu
State/UT Number of Citizens
Uttar Pradesh 1198
J&K 1521
Laddakh 223
Karnataka 135
Delhi 114
Maharashtra 89
Tamil Nadu 71
Gujarat 56
Bihar 50
Telangana 31
Kerala 21
Andhra Pradesh 26
Madhya Pradesh 15
West Bengal 13
Haryana 8
Rajasthan 6
17Uttrakhand 4
Jharkhand 3
Punjab 10
Chattisgarh 2
Odisha 1
TOTAL 3597
State-wise list of Indian citizens evacuated from ISRAEL under Operation
Sindhu
State / UT No. of Citizens
Andhra Pradesh 50
Arunachal Pradesh 1
Assam 3
Bihar 30
Chandigarh 1
Chhattisgarh 2
Delhi 39
Goa 2
18Gujarat 32
Haryana 21
Himachal Pradesh 7
Jammu & Kashmir 6
Jharkhand 7
Karnataka 32
Kerala 62
Madhya Pradesh 4
Maharashtra 93
Manipur 2
Odisha 16
Puducherry 5
Punjab 8
Rajasthan 25
Ranchi 2
Sikkim 2
Tamil Nadu 74
Telangana 37
19Uttar Pradesh 92
Uttarakhand 12
West Bengal 151
TOTAL 818
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