Remittances
Also called: Remittance flows to India · Topic: Population of India: Distribution, Density, Growth and Composition · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 9 "Geographical Perspective on Selected Issues and Problems"
Meaning
Remittances are money that migrants send home to their families. Families spend it on food and daily needs, health care, school fees, farming, buying land and building houses. India is the largest receiver of remittances in the world, at about US$120-135 billion a year (verify current). Most of it comes from the US and the UAE. Maharashtra and Kerala receive the largest shares among Indian states (verify current). Remittances raise household incomes, lower poverty and bring in foreign currency for India.
Example
In Kerala, on India's south-west coast, money sent by Gulf workers since the 1970s has paid for new houses, private schooling and hospital care in many districts. Remittances have become a key part of the state's economy.
Don't confuse with
- Internal remittances: these are sent home by migrants inside India, for example a construction worker in Delhi sending money to a village in Bihar. The world rankings count only money that comes from abroad.
Related concepts
- Census 2011 migration data
- Seasonal migration
- Reverse migration of 2020
- Indentured labour migration
- Gulf migration
- Indian diaspora