WASHINGTON: India has received nearly $11 billion in remittances from the US in 2015, ranking third after Mexico and China, according to a report released by an American research centre. As such, India ranks third after Mexico ($24 billion) and China ($16 billion) in remittances from the US in 2015, Pew Research Centre said in its latest report. Worldwide, an estimated US $582 billion was sent by migrants to relatives in their home countries in 2015, a two per cent decline from 2014, when the amount was $592 billion.
This is the first drop in global remittances since 2009, when they fell by $8 billion amid the global financial crisis. Despite this recent decline, remittances sent by migrants are still about double what they were a decade ago, before the sharp decline in the global economy during the late 2000s. And, with the exception of 2009, migrant remittances worldwide have steadily climbed since the World Bank began releasing estimates in 1970.
In all $133.5 billion in remittances was sent from the US to other countries in 2015. Interestingly, Pew Research Centre said in the year 2015, about US $8.4 billion in remittances was sent from India to other countries. The top remittances recipients’ countries are India’s neighbours lead by Bangladesh which received $4.4 billion followed by Pakistan ($2.34 billion), Nepal ($1 billion), Sri Lanka ($492 million), Burma ($41 million) and China ($40 million). Curiously enough, the US received $6 million in remittances from India in 2015.
Pew has based its report on data collected from the World Bank. According to Pew in 2015, India received nearly $69 billion in remittances from overseas, with the UAE leading with more than $12.5 billion. UAE was followed by the US and Saudi Arabia (about $10.5 billion). Notably India received remittances of more than $4.69 billion from Pakistan, which was followed by Kuwait ($4.5 billion), Qatar ($4 billion), the UK ($3.6 billion), Oman ($3 billion) and Nepal ($2.7 billion). Pew said in 2015 $5.1 billion in remittances was sent from Pakistan to other countries, of which India alone accounted for $4.7 billion, followed by Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Myanmar.