Since India’s independence, about 350 artifacts have been brought back from countries as diverse as France, Germany, Singapore, Australia and Canada. According to the ministry, about 190 artifacts have been recovered from the United States. The number of artifacts brought back has increased since 2014 as only 1947 artifacts could be recovered in 13 years. Most of these items were smuggled by notorious art dealer Subhash Kapoor, who is serving a jail term in Tamil Nadu.

India’s culture minister, G. Kishan Reddy, said the Indian government was working to recover more of the missing artifacts. He said the culture ministry had sent teams to cities such as Singapore, London, Glasgow and Birmingham to search for Indian artifacts.

Mohan said, “We are trying to get back about 700 Central Asian artifacts belonging to the Aural Stein collection of the Indian Institute of Science. The collection was loaned to the Victoria and Albert Museum (L&A) in London about 100 years ago.

He also mentioned that the Government of India has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the British Library to get digitized versions of Indian manuscripts.