In its latest Migration and Development Brief, the World Bank expects India to receive inward remittances worth $124 billion in 2024. In 2023, India received inward remittances worth $120 billion, making it the largest remittance recipient country in the world.

The Migration and Development Brief is published by the World Bank twice a year, and the latest report was published on 26 June 2024. The brief provides an update on the trend and issues related to remittance flow in the world

What are Remittances?

Remittance refers to the transfer of funds from one place to another. The fund can be transferred within a country or from one country to another. In the international context, it refers to the transfer of funds from one country to another. The country from which the fund is transferred is called the source of remittance, and the country that receives the fund is called the recipient.

In accounting terms, the country from which the fund is being sent will be accounted as an outward remittance, and the country that is receiving the fund will be accounted as an inward remittance.

Normally, a citizen of a country who works in another country sends his money back to his relatives in his home country. The World Bank report takes into account the funds sent by the country’s workers, also called migrants, back to their own country.

Highlights of the Migration and Development Brief June 2024

India is expected to receive remittances of $124 billion in 2024 and $129 billion in 2025.

India received $120 billion as a remittance in 2023.

The growth rate of remittances to India was 7.5 per cent in 2023, and it is likely to be 3.7 per cent in 2024.

India is the largest recipient of remittance in the world, followed by Mexico ($66 billion), China ($50 billion), the Philippines ($39 billion), and Pakistan ($27 billion).

India also remained the largest country of origin for emigrants (18.7 million), followed by Ukraine (11.9 million), China (11.1 million), Mexico (11 million), and Venezuela (8.9 million).

Source of Remittance to India

The United States of America is India's largest source of remittance, followed by the United Arab Emirates.

The report expects the remittances from the United Arab Emirates to increase due to the reduced cost of remittance.

According to the report, the implementation of the India-United Arab Emirates Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in 2023 has boosted the use of local currencies in bilateral trade. The interlinking of payment systems between the two countries has reduced the cost of cross-border transactions. It has encouraged the use of formal remittance channels instead of the illegal hawala network.

The report expects remittances to India to remain strong due to the diversification of its immigrant population base. Indian migrants consist of skilled migrants employed in high-income developed countries and less skilled or semi-skilled workers in Gulf countries. Thus, even if there is an economic problem in the world, remittances to India are likely to remain stable.

Reports Published by World Bank

The World Bank was founded in July 1944.

The World Bank is a group of five international financial institutions. It releases several research reports. The important ones are :

World Development Report
Global Economic Prospect
Global Financial Development Report
Commodity Market Outlook
International Debt Statistics

Headquarters: Washington D.C, the United States of America

President: Ajay Banga

Members: 180 countries.