NEW DELHI: Remittances from Indians working abroad — a large share of them in West Asia — climbed to a record $144.8 billion in 2025-26, up from $124.6 billion in the previous fiscal, the government told the Lok Sabha on Monday, pushing back against concerns that regional conflict would dent inflows.
Responding to an unstarred question from Chamala Kiran Kumar Reddy on the impact of West Asia conflicts on remittance flows, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary cited Reserve Bank of India Balance of Payments data showing net private transfers — mainly remittances by Indians employed overseas — have continued an unbroken upward run despite years of regional instability.
The momentum has carried into the current fiscal year as well. Net transfers rose from $9.4 billion in April 2025 to $16 billion in April 2026, a jump of roughly 70% for the month, according to the government's reply.
Remittances have more than doubled since 2013-14, and have grown particularly sharply over the last four years — rising from $81.2 billion in 2021-22 to $144.8 billion in 2025-26, a period that coincides with escalating conflict in the West Asia region.
On why inflows have proved resilient even as the region has seen sustained conflict, the ministry pointed to the World Bank's Global Economic Prospects report of January 2015, which found that remittance flows tend to be steadier than capital flows and are shaped mainly by labour market conditions in host economies rather than short-term political or security shocks.
This distinguishes remittances from more volatile capital flows such as Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), Foreign Portfolio Investment (FPI), and debt inflows, which are typically far more sensitive to geopolitical risk and investor sentiment.
The question had also sought a comparative, conflict-by-conflict breakdown of remittance flows since 2014. The government said it does not maintain remittance data segmented by individual conflict or war, offering instead the aggregate annual figures from the RBI's BoP statistics.