The sustained growth in remittances

Context:

The World Bank’s latest Migration and Development Brief titled, ‘Remittances Brave Global Headwinds’ has said that the remittances to India are set to touch a record $100 billion in 2022.

General trend this year

• World Remittances: World remittances are expected to touch $794 billion in 2022, of which $626 billion went alone to low­ and middle-income countries (LMICs).
• Top Five Recipients-2022: The top five expected recipients are India ($100 billion), followed by Mexico ($60 billion), China ($50 billion), the Philippines ($38 billion), and Egypt ($32 billion).

Reasons Behind inward remittances flows:

• Structural Shift in Remittance Economy: Noticeable structural shift in India’s remittance economy is evident in both, top destination countries & the nature of the jobs held by migrants.
• Low-skilled to High-skilled Jobs: We are moving from largely low-skilled, informal employment in the Gulf countries to high-skilled jobs in high-income countries such as the U.S. and the U.K.
• Advantage of Rupee depreciation: The depreciation of the Indian rupee vis-à-vis the U.S. dollar may have also given an advantage to Indian migrants.