Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala will soon get a directory to enable it connect better with its two million-strong diaspora that annually remits home a staggering Rs.75,000 crore ($12 billion). It's probably the first-such exercise in the country.

"The need for such a directory has been on the cards for long but with the recent evacuation of Kerala nurses from Iraq and Libya carried out by the combined action of the state and the Centre has come as a blessing in disguise for going ahead with the diaspora directory, because none knows how many Keralites are there in each country," P.Sudeep, CEO of Roots-Norka, the Kerala government agency that looks after the welfare of the state's diaspora, told IANS in an interview.