India received a whopping $27 billion in remittances, beating China and Mexico to become the top country for such inflows, the World Bank has said in its latest report.

The top five recipients of remittances in 2007 were India ($27 billion), China ($25.7 billion), Mexico ($25 billion), the Philippines ($17 billion), and France ($12.5 billion), according to the report titled 'Migration and Remittances Factbook 2008'.

"In many developing countries, remittances provide a life line for the poor. They are often an essential source of foreign exchange and a stabilising force for the economy in turbulent times," said Dilip Ratha, senior economist with the World Bank, and co-author of the report.

The inward remittances to India has more than doubled from about $12.89 billion in 2000 to $27 billion in 2007.

In 2006, inward remittances were $25.43 billion, while the outward flow constituted around $1.58 billion.

Rich countries are still the main source of remittances with the United States leading the pack.

"The United States is by far the largest, with $42 billion in recorded outward flows in 2006. Saudi Arabia ranks as the second largest, followed by Switzerland and Germany," the factbook added.

The US was also the top immigration country in 2005, with 38.4 million immigrants, followed by the Russian Federation (12.1 million), and Germany (10.1 million). Among low-income countries, India had the highest immigration volume of 5.7 million, followed by Pakistan (3.3 million), it stated.