Inward remittances into India surged last month due to early salary payments and bonuses on account of the Ramzan festival, say officials of banks and money transfer companies.
“Typically remittances increase in the month of Ramzan,…prompting NRIs of the Muslim community to send money to their relatives and loved ones.
Countries such as India, Bangladesh and Pakistan are beneficiaries during this time. Our growth was 20 per cent, mostly from the Gulf countries like Qatar, Saudi Arabia during the Ramzan month, largely for beneficiaries in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar,” said Sudhesh Giriyan, Vice-President and Business head at Xpress Money.
According to a World Bank report released two years ago, Indian migrants to West Asia are mainly unskilled or semi-skilled workers in construction work, transport operations, and domestic services. The Gulf Co-operation Council constitutes about 40 per cent of the total remittances.
Last year, India received the highest remittance at $71 billion (about ₹4.35 lakh crore). The Gulf sector is in the forefront of sending money to India, followed by North America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. Of the total remittance last year, Kerala received about ₹74,000 crore.
Huge promotions and cash rewards during the period further boost the remittances.
Kerala-based Federal Bank, which does significant business from remittances, saw 12 per cent year-on-year growth in remittances during Ramzan with 5.38 lakh transactions as against 4.82 lakh last year. The total amount remitted was ₹4,000 crore compared with ₹3,600 crore last year.
“Regions such as Qatar (45 per cent growth), Saudi Arabia, UAE were the big remitters. Blue collared remittances are in North India mainly Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal. Now South India is seeing more of white collared remittances to Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Mumbai,” said A Surendran, General Manager & Head of International Business, Federal Bank.
The World Bank report also suggested that high-skilled migration from India has also picked up.
KR Bijimon, Chief General Manager of Muthoot Finance, said, “With lot of people aspiring to work abroad, growth in the remittance market will continue. White collared people largely use banks. However, new construction activities and oil wells will continue to see the worker community going overseas and make remittances through us.”
Last month, the company saw about 15 per cent growth with 2.3 lakh of transactions averaging at approximately ₹25,000/remittance.
Kiran Shetty, Managing Director and Regional Vice-President at Western Union India, recently said the remittance industry is recession proof. “West Asian markets have started picking up after the slowdown and this will definitely propel growth in the remittance business.”