Team Blitz India
NEW DELHI: India topped the list of remittance recipient countries in 2023 at $125 billion, according to a recent report of the World Bank on ‘Migrants, Refugees, and Societies’.
Mexico ($67 billion), China ($50 billion), the Philippines ($40 billion), and Egypt ($24 billion) followed in that order, added report.
About 184 million people – 2.3 pc of the world’s population – live outside of their country of nationality, noted the World Bank, adding that almost half of them are in low- and middle-income countries.
Migrants, especially if they are highly educated and are in highskilled occupations, have also helped to develop industries in their countries of origin by transferring knowledge and fostering innovation, it found.
The report thus points at the significant role played by Indian diaspora in supporting economy. It cited the instance of Indian migrants in California’s Silicon Valley, who “have launched large information technology-related firms in India. In 2006, firms established by returnees accounted for some 90 pc of firms in software technology parks in Bangalore”.
The report also shared that remittance costs remain persistently high – averaging 6.2 pc – to send $200 as of the second quarter of 2023.
