Around 8 lakh Indians may have to leave the gulf nation of Kuwait if the country’s new bill on expatriates comes into force.

The legal and legislative committee of the National Assembly of Kuwait has determined that the draft expat quota bill is constitutional, according to which Indians should not exceed 15 percent of the country’s population, Gulf News reported citing a local media report.

The news report said that the bill is to be transferred to the respective committee so that a comprehensive plan is created.

The current population of Kuwait is 4.3 million, with Kuwaitis making up 1.3 million of the population, and expats accounting for 3 million, it added. The total number of Indians in Kuwait is around 1.45 million, constituting the largest number of expats in the country.

The gulf nation has witnessed a spike in anti-expat rhetoric after the outbreak of coronavirus. Last month, Kuwait’s Prime Minister, Sheikh Sabah Al Khalid Al Sabah, had proposed decreasing the number of expats from 70 percent to 30 percent of the population, Gulf News reported.