London, August 26: People from the Indian sub-continent were given the highest number of settlement grants in UK, according to new official figures released today, amid the David Cameron government’s efforts to reduce immigration.
The coalition government’s objective is to reduce migration from India and other countries outside the European Union to ‘tens of thousands’ rather than ‘hundreds of thousands’.
The Office of National Statistics figures show that the net migration rose last year to 196,000, which was up by 33,000 from the number in 2008.
Number of people coming to the UK dropped by 4 per cent, but those leaving dropped by 13 per cent.
Migrants from the Indian sub-continent made up the largest proportion of settlement grants, 34 per cent.
Of the rest, 25 per cent were from Africa and 21 per cent from elsewhere in Asia.
–Agencies