Remittances are estimated to exceed $600 billion in 2015.
Remittances towards gifts and donations have been brought under the ambit of remittance scheme of individuals up to $1,00,000.
A hassle-free electronic remittances gateway, enabling non-resident Indians to send money back home, will be launched during the three-day Pravasi Bharatiya Divas opening in Hyderabad on January 7.
India leads global remittances in the year 2013 with a whopping $70 billion in its kitty, of which USD 65 billion were earned from the country's flagship software services exports, the World Bank reported.
A remarkable story which helped in transforming a bureaucratic organization, to a customer centric organization. This experience may inspire several government / private organizations to modify or adopt digitisation to transform their business, notes Professor N Ravichandran (retd).
ED and Directorate of Revenue Intelligence have detected a significant increase in the outflow of Indian money, specifically into four countries --Thailand, Dubai, Singapore and Hong Kong.
According to the World Bank's latest Migration and Remittances Factbook 2011, remittance flows to developing countries is expected to reach $325 billion by the end of this year, up from $307 billion in 2009.
Indian Bank on Tuesday launched IndRemit, an online money transfer service that allows Non-Resident Indians in the United States to make online money remittance to India.
Other large recipients are China ($64 billion), the Philippines ($28 billion), Mexico ($24 billion), Nigeria ($21 billion), Egypt ($18 billion), Pakistan ($17 billion), Bangladesh ($15 billion), Vietnam ($11 billion) and Ukraine ($9 billion).
With the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) allowing people to receive money more than twice a month from abroad, the companies facilitating transfer services are set to cash in, too.
Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman's much-anticipated visit to Pakistan has been deferred for unspecified reasons, a report said on Saturday.
India received $55.9 billion in remittances in the year 2010-11.
The slowdown in global remittance flows that became evident in the last quarter of 2008 has continued in the first half of 2009. However, South Asian countries like India, Pakistan and Bangladesh have continued to post strong growth till now because of remittances from the Gulf region.
India recorded a current account surplus of $5.7 billion or 0.6 per cent of GDP in the March quarter, the Reserve Bank of India said on Monday. This is the first time in ten quarters that the crucial metric of the country's external strength has turned into surplus mode. In the year-ago period, the current account deficit stood at $1.3 billion or 0.2 per cent of GDP, and the same was $8.7 billion or 1 per cent of GDP in the preceding quarter ending December 2023.
As the new Tax Collection at Source (TCS) on foreign remittances is set to become applicable from October 1, travel agents' body TAAI has made a last-minute plea to the government, urging them to abolish the decision or defer its implementation until the next fiscal year to allow discussions on overseas tour packages. The government has raised the TCS on foreign remittances under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS) from 5 per cent to 20 per cent. This will be applicable to international travel, sending money abroad and other remittances.
The World Bank in its report said the relative importance of remittances as a source of external resources is expected to increase further.
Keep track of your foreign remittances to avoid giving incorrect declarations as these could be held against you.
Developing countries received $414 billion worth of remittances in 2013.
For 2011-12, there were 7,56,741 foreign remittances made from India with money worth Rs 3,56,461 crore (Rs 3,564.61 billion) going out of India
About 13 per cent of the funds remitted by Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) in 2006 were invested in equity and real estate. While 20 per cent of the funds are parked in bank deposits.
With a rising population of more than 215 million international migrants in the world, remittances received by developing countries, is estimated to be $325 billion in 2010, states a World Bank study.
The remittances increased from $26.37 billion duringthe same period in the previous year, as India provided much better returns.
Other than India, China and Mexico, the top 10 recipients of remittances include the Philippines, Poland, Nigeria, Romania, Egypt, Bangladesh and Vietnam. Remittance flow to South and East Asia has continued to post strong growth, largely on the fact that the gulf countries, a major destination for Asian migrants, have not significantly reduced hiring migrants.
Remittances by non-resident Indians (NRIs) saw a 27 per cent jump at $ 6.5 billion (Rs 39,991.9 crore in present valuations) between January and September this year, as against 7 per cent growth during the same period last year.
Overseas Indian workers are located in two regions -- the Middle East and developed countries such as the US, UK and Canada, ADB said. Those in the Middle East are mostly unskilled labour employed in construction and oil-related services while overseas Indians in the developed countries include skilled labour in the banking and information technology industry. 'Consequently, it is almost inevitable that remittances will decline,' the report said.
In the volatile international situation where 'nativism' is on the rise and immigrant communities are being targeted, the Leader of the Opposition's statement is like adding fuel to fire. If the Indian diaspora numbering 4 crores is threatened it will constitute a grave threat to national security, warns Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has identified "climate shocks" as a risk to food inflation rates and overall price rise while stating that the outlook for the country's economic growth remains bright. In its Annual Report for 2023-24, released on Thursday, the central bank said easing supply-chain pressures, broad-based softening in core inflation, and early indications of an above-normal southwest monsoon meant well for the inflation outlook in 2024-25. "The increasing incidence of climate shocks, however, imparts considerable uncertainty to the food inflation and overall inflation outlook," said the RBI while noting headline inflation moderated by 1.3 percentage points on an annual average basis to 5.4 per cent in 2023-24.
Prices may go up because of higher energy costs, caused by the rise in shipping charges, with commercial vessels taking a longer route to avoid the troubled Red Sea region, the finance ministry said on Monday. Iran-backed Houthi rebels of Yemen are repeatedly attacking ships in the Red Sea. While the global economy is grappling with challenges such as sticky inflation, sluggish growth, and mounting fiscal pressure, India's external sector could face "potential risks" due to the ongoing geopolitical tensions, according to the finance ministry's report on the review of the Indian economy.
The prospect of further falls in remittances is a hindrance for the Reserve Bank of India, as it seeks to bullet-proof the economy against sudden capital outflows
The finance ministry on Friday amended the foreign exchange management rules to exclude international credit card spends from the purview of liberalised remittance scheme (LRS). The amendment to the Foreign Exchange Management (Current Account Transactions) Rules, 2000, will be effective retrospectively from May 16, the ministry said in a notification. "...the use of International Credit Card for making payment by a person towards meeting expenses while such person is on a visit outside India" will not be covered under LRS, the notification said while inserting Rule 7 in the FEM (CAT) Rules.
India is more vulnerable than it appears. Most of what RBI calls remittances could be disguised capital flows.
100-150 NRKs are returning from the Gulf sector every week.
Moitra, who was expelled from the Lok Sabha in December for "unethical conduct", has been renominated by her party from West Bengal's Krishnanagar seat in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
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.
NRIs remittances jumped 19 per cent to $66 billion in the last fiscal compared to the previous financial year because of a sharp decline in the rupee value against dollar, Assocham said in a study.
Indians working abroad sent a whopping $21.7 billion to their kin in 2004, making the country the highest recipient of remittances worldwide
After India, China will stand second with $66 billion, followed by Mexico and the Philippines with $24 billion each, a latest report by the bank said on Tuesday.