Although New York City often tends to overlook Staten Island as a significant borough, many individuals from the southern tip of India could not picture a more ideal community in which to settle.

Indian Americans are among the fastest-growing in our population, as there has been a 66 percent increase in immigration from India since 1990. The majority of Indian-Americans who have settled in Staten Island since the 1970s are Christians from Kerala. Staten Island is home to the first Malankara Orthodox Church of India in America.

Hindus from India are also bettering the Staten Island society and leaving their mark on the borough. The Indian American community of Staten Island is now thought to be increasingly ambitious and outgoing as is indicated by plans for a new Hindu temple in the Sunnyside area as well as the emergence of two Indian civic groups on the Island.

When the 1965 United States Immigration laws that allowed more skilled foreign workers to enter America surfaced, significant larger amounts of Kerala natives began arriving in the country. A profession that has been in demand and that has received much response from South India is nursing. Nurses from Kerala began coming to the U.S. in large numbers, obtaining jobs in the former Willowbrook State School, South Beach Psychiatric Center, local hospitals and nursing homes. Many have settled in Willowbrook, Westerleigh and West Brighton, with a large group around Manor Road, north of the Staten Island Expressway.

Now, more and more immigrants from fields of medicine, engineering, and other such professions have been flocking to the U.S., thereby causing an immense wave of the educated elite of India to come to America. One might wonder what draws such individuals to the quiet areas of Staten Island. According to Rajiv S. Gowda, a Mariners Harbor resident who chairs the the India Day parade's civic and community affairs, "Many of the professionals live in various neighborhoods throughout the Island, attracted to the 'suburban life'."

Although the Indian community in Staten Island may not be as well developed as those in Jackson Heights, Queens or Edison, NJ, which have huge Indian populations, the Island does have a few Indian grocery stores, restaurants, and a traditional Indian clothing store. Most of the stores are concentrated on Victory Boulevard between Jewett Avenue and Manor Road.

The Indian Community has had significant impacts in the society and a goal of the Indians in Staten Island is to become a presence in the Island's and New York City's society as a whole. With an estimated 1,000 Kerala families living on the borough, West Brighton resident and president of the Malayalee Association of Staten Island Jose Thomas, explains, "Two civic organizations representing [only] half of them have emerged."