More number of foreign students came to India this year: Irani

New Delhi, Dec 21: More number of foreign students came to India this year with the highest draw from Malaysia followed by Afghanistan and Bangladesh, Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani said today.

Irani, while replying to a written question in Lok Sabha, also said, there is no definite trend about the number of foreign students coming to the country.

According to records of Ministry of Home Affairs, the number of foreign students who arrived in the country in 2012 was 76,753 which rose to 93,693 in 2013.

Dipping by almost half, a total of 44,620 foreign students came to India last year. The figures, however, rose to 66,885 in 2015. Maximum of 6,471 students came to India from Malaysia followed by 5,605 from Afghanistan and 5,431 from Bangladesh, respectively.

Other countries from which over 2,000 students came to India last year included Sudan, Yemen, Thailand, Sri Lanka Iran, Iraq, Nigeria and Korea.

PTI