Globally, migrant workforce sent $404 billion to their home countries in the year 2013 and out of that, Indian have beaten them all. Migrant Indian workforce sent remittances worth $70 billion (Rs 4 lakh 20 thousand crore) back home, beating countries like China and Philippines, which have traditionally been the toppers of this list.
The World Bank report titled “Migration and Remittances: Recent Developments and Outlook” said that for the year 2014, it being expected that migrant workforce will send remittances worth $436 billion which is an increase of 7.8%. Further, by 2016, this amount will cross $516 billion.
Kaushik Basu, Senior Vice President and Chief Economist of the World Bank said while releasing this report, “Remittances have become a major component of the balance of payments of nations. India led the chart of remittance flows, receiving $70 billion last year (2013), followed by China with $60 billion and the Philippines with $25 billion. “
Further he added, “Remittances and migration data are also barometers of global peace and turmoil and this is what makes the World Bank’s KNOMAD (Global Knowledge Partnership on Migration and Development) initiative to organize, analyse, and make available these data so important,”
The top 10 countries who received maximum foreign remittances
Interestingly, out of this $70 billion, software exports and services accounted a major share with $65 billion coming in only from this sector. This again proves that India rules the IT and Services industry globally, and our workforce is the best in the class.
But China with $60 billion remittances and Philippines at $25 billion, majority of which is coming from IT and ITeS sector are racing ahead and are very close to us.
Already several BPO related outsourcing is being shifted from India to these countries, and we have a long way to go from here.
Interesting data. Just curious…. is there a way to find out the overall local money transfer / remittance market? Just to quote an example – lot of people go from bihar / UP to delhi for work. Every month they send some money back home. Just wanted to understand the nitty grity of this market. How big is this market? What are the channels used? What are the charges etc. Security concerns if any? Any insight on this would be really helpful. Thanks.