Sindhi Community in Birmingham

Where they come from

Sindh is a province of Pakistan along the lower Indus river, home to the ancient city of Mohenjo-daro. When India was partitioned in 1947, many Sindhi Hindus left for India and for trading posts around the world. Sindhis in Birmingham today include families with roots in both India and Pakistan.

The community in numbers

The 2021 Census does not publish a separate Birmingham figure for the Sindhi community, which is counted within the census's wider figures for Indian and Pakistani heritage. By any measure it is one of the city's smaller communities, which makes the ties between its members all the closer.

Working for Birmingham

Sindhi families have a long tradition of trade, and in Birmingham members of the community run businesses in retail, textiles, import and export, and property. Others work as doctors, pharmacists, accountants and engineers, and younger Sindhis are building careers in finance, law and technology.

Birmingham grew rich as the city of a thousand trades, and that spirit of making and doing is still strong. Today the trades sit alongside healthcare, education, finance, law, logistics and technology. The Sindhi community brings energy to that mix, from people starting small businesses to those caring for patients, teaching in classrooms and keeping homes and workplaces in good repair.

Culture and community life

Cheti Chand, the Sindhi New Year, honours the saint Jhulelal and is marked with prayers, music and food. Sindhi cooking, with sai bhaji, koki and Sindhi curry, is a proud tradition, and families work to keep the Sindhi language alive among children born in Britain.

In a city where scores of languages are spoken, the Sindhi community adds another voice to the conversation. Its members, old and new, are helping to make Birmingham the confident, outward-looking city it wants to be.