The Indian government has confiscated the property of residents who emigrated to China and Pakistan and accepted citizenship in those countries.

The Economic Times reported Tuesday, citing the Interior Ministry, that the Indian government made 34 billion rupees ($410.7 million) from the sale of these properties between 2018 and 2022, which were remitted to the state.

According to the publication, the confiscations and sales included stocks and other securities, emigrants' stakes in 152 Indian companies, and 1.6 tons of gold and more than 26 tons of silver in local banks owned by those who left India. Real estate of those who emigrated to China and Pakistan has not been subject to confiscation so far.

According to the Ministry of Home Affairs report, 12,611 properties remain in India that still belong to people who left the country for China and Pakistan and accepted their citizenship. Among the owners of such properties are 12,485 who were naturalized in Pakistan and 125 who were naturalized in China.

The confiscation of their property was carried out on the basis of the Indian Enemy Property Act, the very name of which speaks to the attitude of the Indian authorities toward such former citizens of the South Asian republic. According to the law, "enemy property includes any property owned, held, or administered on behalf of an enemy, enemy entity, or enemy firm."

The federal government has asked Indian state and union administrations for details of such emigrant properties. India has an information system in place to coordinate the effective management, preservation and rapid liquidation of "enemy" real estate. Most of its owners are residents who, after India's armed conflict with China in 1962 and the war with Pakistan in 1965, left for these countries and became their citizens.