India largest remittance-receiving country in the world

• According to a report 'RemitSCOPE - Remittance markets and opportunities - Asia and the Pacific', India was the largest remittance- receiving country in the world, with migrant workers from the country sending home USD 69 billion in 2017.

Highlights of the report:

• India (USD 69 billion), China (USD 64 billion) and the Philippines (USD 33 billion) are the three largest remittance-receiving countries in the world in 2017.
• About 70 per cent of remittances sent to Asia and the Pacific come from outside the region and in particular from the Gulf States (32 per cent), North America (26 per cent) and Europe (12 per cent).
• By 2030, around USD 6 trillion in remittances are expected to be sent to developing countries by 2030: over half of these flows will arrive in the Asia Pacific regions, very often in small towns and villages.
• The remittances represented 53 per cent of flows worldwide, growing 4.87 per cent since 2008, with rates flattening in recent years. Remittance outflows from the region amount to USD 78 billion and 93 per cent of the flows remain in the region.
• Remittances are particularly crucial in rural areas where poverty is the highest. Worldwide, an estimated 40 percent of the total value of remittances go to rural areas.
• However, in the Asia- Pacific region, remittances go disproportionally to countries with a majority of rural populations such as Nepal (81 per cent), India (67 per cent), Vietnam (66 per cent), Bangladesh (65 per cent), Pakistan (61 per cent) and the Philippines (56 per cent). Remittances to rural areas are generally costlier due to expenses associated with offering access points in distant locations.
• Remittances contribute to the region more than 10 times the official development assistance in the region, the report said.
• In the region, 400 million people, one out of every 10 people, are directly affected by remittances either as a sender or as a receiver.
• The report said while remittances benefit about 320 million family members in the region, most of them in rural areas, remittance markets still need to transform to ensure that families can benefit fully from the flows.
• Outdated regulatory barriers on both sending and receiving ends result in higher and less transparent costs for the 2 billion transactions a year most amounting to just USD 200 to USD 300 each. They also make it less likely and more difficult to convert remittances into savings and investments.
• Financial inclusion has increased since 2011 with half of the adults in the region having a bank account (excluding high-income economies) this does not represent the reality of the substantial majority of remittance receiving families where financial exclusion remains predominant.

By: Vishal