Modi Faces Sea of Expectations from Diaspora, India-Watchers

"It's the will of the majority. I am sceptical of how his policies will translate to long-term growth of India, not just in big cities," said California-based Nandita Bhandari Verma, working as the marketing director of a software company.

Belgian researcher Marianne Keppens, a coordinator of India Platform, a forum for collaboration between European and Indian universities, says the Modi victory was significant.

"BJP's success and Modi as prime minister is an incredibly strong signal of the Indians that they want a change in the way their culture has been described and approached since colonialism," said Keppens.

"It is a signal that Indians are getting rid of the legacy of the colonial way of understanding Indian culture and that they are rediscovering the strength and richness of their culture."

Pakistani journalist Muhammad Akbar Notezai, who has worked on the welfare of Hindus in Balochistan province for years, is cautiously optimistic.

"There is hope that pro-business Modi will have good relations with (his Pakistani counterpart) Nawaz Sharif who enjoyed friendly relations with Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Notezai had a word of advice for Modi. "As far as Hindus in Pakistan are concerned, they fear that any Hindu-Muslim tension will create problems for them as it happened in the 1990s. That is why the BJP must learn a lesson from the past."