London: Ever since Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister of India, the Indian diaspora in the United Kingdom has seen visible change, Union Minister Jitendra Singh said on Saturday.

In an interview with ANI, Union Minister Singh, after interacting with the Indian diaspora in London, said, "Ever since Prime Minister Modi has taken over the last eight, nine years, each of the members, the diaspora is appreciative of the fact that they can see a change."

He also stated that his observation was supported by all the others in the room who had been to India recently.

"The Indian diaspora said they could see a visible change. And I think also many of those professionals who had come over to the United Kingdom or the other parts of the world out of some kind of disillusionment back home, are now looking back. They have some kind of also regret that they came, didn't possibly destiny allow them to wait till PM Modi had taken over?" Union Minister said.

Singh said that the esteem of the Indian diaspora has gone up tremendously. The third generation of post-independence Indians is coming up and they are being seen as a force to reckon with across the world, he added.

Union Minister, who is on a six-day visit to the UK, interacted with the Indian Diaspora on Saturday.

Singh said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has raised the esteem of the Indian Diaspora abroad, according to the statement released by the Ministry of Science and Technology.

The Minister said, the world is looking up to the Indian Diaspora with great hope and expectation and it is high time that they also rise to the occasion and contribute to the well-being of the entire humankind in the true spirit of the theme of 'Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam' as given by PM Modi during India's G20 presidency.

Interacting with the Diaspora, Jitendra Singh said that the Indian Diaspora should try to channelize their resources to support the important initiatives taken up by the Government back home in India. He emphasised that India is on a path of transformation.

PM Modi has, on several occasions, emphasised the significance of science and technology in driving economic growth and rising living standards. He urged the Diaspora to be a part of this growth story, the statement read.

The Minister expressed happiness in addressing the Indian diaspora and said that many of them have demonstrated extraordinary leadership positions in academia, industry and government in the United Kingdom, the statement added.

Sharing some of the key achievements of India in S & T like India's massive jump in its ranking on the Global Innovation Index (GII) from 81st in the year 2015 to 40th in 2022 among 132 economies of the world, 3rd rank in terms of number of StartUps, Unicorns, scientific publications and PhDs awarded, the Minister said that India has in recent years made some unprecedented progress in S & T areas.

Dr Jitendra Singh proposed an active engagement of the Indian diaspora with Indian Institutions and individuals considering the transformative research happening in our country, according to the statement.