Remittances to India have gone up in the festive season of Diwali and Eid despite the Indian rupee gaining in strength.
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.
In all, worldwide remittances -- including those to high-income countries -- will reach $406 billion in the current calendar year.
Mobile remittance services, which have done wonders in other emerging market economies like Kenya and the Philippines, are expected to change the retail payment landscape in the country that has over 600 million mobile subscribers and 300 million bank account holders.
Private sector lender ICICI Bank on Monday launched I-Express, an instant cross-border money transfer option for Non-Resident Indians (NRIs).
Email alarm made government close arbitrage window
India's current account deficit (CAD) may dip further in the March quarter of FY24 as pressure from the negative net exports during the January-March period eased to an 11-quarter high. A part of the gross domestic product (GDP) data, net export- which is usually negative for India - captures the difference between exports and imports of both goods and services, while the CAD data, released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), also factors in private transfer receipts.
Indian workers' remittances to the country from abroad have soared considerably over the years to touch $23 billion in 2004, according to World Bank statistics.
India is the largest recipient of remittances in the world, with $71 billion sent last year.
Cyprus, in accordance with the conditions set by the International Monetary Fund and European Union for a Euro 10-billion bailout package, had agreed to impose a tax on bank deposits in the country.
Modi to push for low transaction cost for remittances at G20
India's key exports to the UAE include gems and jewellery, petroleum products, metals, machinery and basmati rice.
India is the largest recipient of remittances in the world.
Hopes soar on currency gaining more if Modi becomes the Prime Minister.
Despite difficult working conditions, Indians are still seeking jobs in Gulf countries
The country's current account deficit widened marginally to $9.7 billion or 1.1 per cent of GDP in April-June 2024, as against $8.9 billion or 1 per cent in the year-ago period, Reserve Bank of India said on Monday. The crucial number representing the country's external sector strength has come on the heels of a surplus of $4.6 billion or 0.5 per cent of GDP recorded in the preceding January-March quarter. The Reserve Bank attributed the year-on-year widening in current account deficit to a rise in merchandise trade gap which was recorded at $65.1 billion in Q1 FY25 as compared to $56.7 billion in the year-ago period.
Will allowing business correspondents to hawk insurance products help in reviving 5-lakh strong field agents as a viable channel?
Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) will migrate to a new information technology (IT) system within the next three months, Union labour minister Mansukh Mandaviya said on Wednesday. In July last year, a clutch of officers at the retirement fund body had written a letter to the Central government complaining about archaic and "collapsing" software systems. Subscribers too were facing problems due to it.
The cost of remittances across various modes has come down significantly.
Leading FMCG maker HUL said that it has received a demand notice of Rs 962.75 crore from the Income Tax Department and will go in for an appeal against the order. The notice relates to non-deduction of TDS on payment of Rs 3,045 crore to GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare (GSKCH) for the acquisition of Intellectual Property Rights of the Health Foods Drinks (HFD) business consisting of brands as Horlicks, Boost, Maltova, and Viva, according to a recent exchange filing.
This is the first time a bank has introduced a real-time international account to account money transfer service via mobile phones anywhere in the world, a statement here said.
India's foreign exchange reserves have jumped to an all-time high of $651.5 billion as of May 31, Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das said on Friday. This means the overall kitty has increased by $4.83 billion since the last reported number of $646.673 billion on May 24 this year.
'Despite rising inflows, many NRIs lack awareness about NRO and NRE accounts and mistakenly use family accounts or invest in a relative's name.' 'Many are unaware of tax implications.'
Keep track of your foreign remittances to avoid giving incorrect declarations as these could be held against you.
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.
Remittances by artists and for advertisements, royalty payments, purchase of trademarks, commission to real estate agents and health insurance from abroad would no longer require RBI clearance.
The government said remittances from abroad will not attract service tax, putting to rest the concerns raised in view of new tax norms.
The Survey is authored by Chief Economic Advisor V Anantha Nageswaran and his team.
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.
Indians remitted close to $2 billion in November under the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI's) liberalised remittance scheme (LRS), latest data released by the central bank showed. Outward remittances under the scheme jumped 29 per cent to $1.99 billion compared to $1.54 billion in the year-ago month. Sequentially, outward remittances under the scheme were up about 3.5 per cent.
The average cost of data breaches in India reached $2.18 million in 2023, marking a 28 per cent increase since 2020, according to the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) Currency and Finance report for 2023-24. The report said that India's average data breach cost was still below the global average. The most common attacks in India are phishing which was at 22 per cent and stolen or compromised credentials was 16 per cent. The automotive industry is highly vulnerable to cyber attacks, whereas the banking and financial services sector, benefiting from stringent regulations, enjoys comparatively stronger protection.
Singh has also sought details from the Finance Ministry on the issue, said Chandy who raised objections before the Prime Minister over the reported move by the Government to levy the tax on the money of Indians working abroad.
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).
Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman's much-anticipated visit to Pakistan has been deferred for unspecified reasons, a report said on Saturday.
In the first such collaboration for India, the country's flagship payments platform, the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), and Singapore's PayNow payment system have launched a real-time cross-border payment linkage system. The linkage, which was launched by Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi and Singapore's PM Lee Hsien Loong on Tuesday, was kicked off by a live cross-border transaction between Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das and Monetary Authority of Singapore managing director Ravi Menon, using mobile phones.
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.
Credit card payments for foreign travel will be brought under the purview of the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS) of the Reserve Bank, to ensure that such expenses do not escape TCS (Tax Collection at Source). While moving the Finance Bill 2023 for consideration and passage in the Lok Sabha on Friday, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the Reserve Bank has been asked to look into ways to bring credit card payments on foreign tours under the LRS. "It has been represented that payments for foreign tours through a credit card are not being captured under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS) and such payments escape tax collection at source (TCS)," she said.
