Indian Sindhi DNA is distinct from Pakistani counterparts, finds CCMB study

A pioneering genetic study by CCMB researchers has revealed that Sindhis settled in western India possess a distinct genetic profile compared to their Pakistani counterparts. The research highlights ancient East Asian admixtures, possibly from Mongolian migrations, and recent assimilation with local groups like the Konkanis.

Hyderabad: The genetic make-up of the Sindhi population settled in the Western parts of India is quite different and unique from Pakistani Sindhis, findings from the first high-throughput genetic study on the Sindhi population living on the West Coast of India, conducted by Dr. Kumarasamy Thangaraj from the Hyderabad-based Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) and his colleague, Dr. Lomous Kumar, said.

Commenting on their study, which was published on September 30, 2025 in the journal of Human Genomics, Dr Thangaraj said, “We found that the Sindhi population on the west coast of India has unique genetic make-up, which is different from Pakistani Sindhis. They show genetic affinities towards the Burusho or Hazara-like group from Pakistan as well as recent genetic assimilation with local populations such as the Konkani.”

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The CCMB researchers examined the common ancestry, local assimilation, and past migration history of the Sindhi population.

Researchers generated genetic data of the Sindhi population using 6 lakh DNA markers and analysed the data using advanced analytical and statistical methods.

Dr Thangaraj said in a press release on Friday that the existence of a unique East Asian genetic component in Sindhis of the west coast of India, compared to Pakistani Sindhis, can be attributed to minor admixtures occurring either directly through Mongolian migrations or with contacts through Burusho and Hazara-like groups in present-day Pakistan, alternatively.

Burusho and Hazara are population groups with Mongoloid features found in present-day Pakistan. “Our genetic study also found that the Indian Sindhi group has a small, unique genetic component from East Asia that might have been incorporated much earlier in history, likely reflecting imprints of Iron Age or later migrations, possibly Mongols, in their genomes,” said Dr. Lomous Kumar, one of the authors of the study and a postdoctoral researcher at DST-Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences (BSIP), Lucknow.

“These findings conclusively demonstrate the demographic changes and population shifts in western India associated with multiple migrations. Some of these happened as early as the Iron or Middle Ages and some as recent as post-independence,” said Dr. Vinay K. Nandicoori, Director, CSIR-CCMB.