India has retained its standing as the world’s largest recipient of remittances from abroad in 2015, according to a recent report from The World Bank. India has been a strong market receiving remittances from abroad over the past decade and has cemented its position as the largest recipient over the last five years. Other large remittance recipients in 2015 were China, with US$ 64 billion, Philippines (US$ 28 billion), Mexico (US$ 25 billion) and Nigeria (US$ 21 billion), The World Bank said in its annual report ‘Migration and Development Brief’.
It may be noted here that at US$ 69 billion in 2015, there is a decline of around US$ 1 billion in India’s receipt of remittances from abroad as compared to 2014. However, experts have attributed the decline to the impact of falling oil prices on remittances from the Gulf countries and depreciation of major sending country currencies. Officially recorded remittances to developing countries stood at US$ 431.6 billion in 2015, an increase of 0.4 per cent against US$ 430 billion in 2014.
It is equally important to note here the strong Indian diaspora working across the world, both in developed and developing countries, is the backbone of these overseas remittances. Experts believe that India has reached a strong base and can only be expected to register strong growth in the coming years in terms of remittances from abroad.