Kerala, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu together received 58.7 per cent of the total inward remittances, according to the Reserve Bank of India.

As per the results of the survey of India’s inward remittances in 2016-17, released by the central bank on Thursday, Kerala accounted for 19 per cent of total inward remittances, followed by Maharashtra (16.7 per cent), Karnataka (15 per cent) and Tamil Nadu (8 per cent).

Delhi (5.9 per cent), Andhra Pradesh (4 per cent), Uttar Pradesh (3.1 per cent), West Bengal (2.7 per cent), Gujarat (2.1 per cent) and Punjab (1.7 per cent) were among the top 10 States that received inward remittances.

The RBI had last published such a survey in December 2013.

Eight countries – United Arab Emirates, the United States, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, the United Kingdom and Malaysia – accounted for 82 per cent of the total remittances received by India.

More than half of the remittances received by Indian residents were used for family maintenance (59.2 per cent), followed by deposits in banks (20 per cent) and investments in landed property, and shares (8.3 per cent).

Size-wise analysis shows that 70.3 per cent of all reported transactions were of more than $500 and only 2.7 per cent were less than $200.

Remittances to India were mostly routed through private sector banks (74.2 per cent), followed by public sector banks (17.3 per cent) and foreign banks (8.5 per cent).

The rupee drawing arrangement (RDA) is the most popular channel of remittance, which accounted for 75.2 per cent of remittances, followed by SWIFT (19.5 per cent), direct transfers (3.4 per cent) and cheques and drafts (1.9 per cent).

Cost to the remitter for sending remittances through the RDA is relatively low in the case of private /foreign banks, the RBI said.

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