Is India really going to leave the world behind in remittance income

 

India is the second largest populous country in the world. The current population of the Asian country is more than 141 crore . In terms of economy, India is the fifth largest economy in the world. India recently topped the UK to become number five in this list. Currently, the country's GDP is 3.53 trillion US dollars .

Although India is the fifth largest economy in the world, this time India is moving towards surpassing the entire world in terms of expatriate income. According to the World Bank, India could achieve $100 billion in remittances in 2022. If this happens, India will be the first country in the world to record 100 billion dollars in a year. Because, so far no country has been able to earn this amount of remittances in one year.

It is known that there are 18 million diaspora Indians spread across the world. The country is going to make a record by getting this huge remittance on their shoulders.

"Remittance flows to India increased on the back of rising wages and strong labor markets in the US and OECD countries 

India's remittance flow increased by 12 percent this year compared to 2021. Remittances contribute 3 percent to the country's GDP.

India is moving towards this special milestone mainly by relying on the income of migrant workers. But there are some other reasons behind the increase in remittances of the country. For example, many Indian students studying on remittances have started getting good jobs in various high-income countries like USA, UK, Singapore in recent years.

Apart from this, the depreciation of the Indian rupee has also helped to increase remittances. The Indian currency has depreciated by 10 percent against the dollar since January this year. As a result, the cost of sending money from South Africa to India has decreased by 26 percent, from Thailand by 17 percent and from Japan by 14 percent compared to last year.

However, from January 2015 to September 2021, 8 lakh 81 thousand 254 people renounced Indian citizenship. Post-pandemic, this trend has increased as countries such as Canada, New Zealand, Germany and Ireland relaxed their policies to attract skilled workers. 

However, this year despite the increase in India and Nepal's expatriate income, remittances from other South Asian countries have decreased by 10 percent compared to last year. 

It should be noted that India has been the top recipient of remittances so far this year. India is followed by Mexico, China and the Philippines in receiving expatriate income.

Now it remains to be seen whether India's expatriate income can touch the USD 100 billion milestone by the end of the year.

Sources: Times of India , CNN , BBC 

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