In the wake of current times, the number of expatriates moving to other countries is continuously increasing, let alone Indian expatriates. According to The Ministry of External Affairs report, there are 32 million Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) and Overseas Citizens of India (OCIs) residing outside India, and overseas Indians comprise the world’s largest overseas diaspora. Every year 2.5 million Indians migrate overseas, which is the highest annual number of migrants in the world (Indian Diaspora-Wikipedia). An expatriate is someone who has left their country of origin in order to reside in another country. Expatriates may leave home for work reasons and seek more lucrative employment in a different country. Additionally, they may live overseas for a while or completely renounce their citizenship of one country in favour of another. In 2020, 18 million people from India were living outside their country of birth. Other countries with a large expatriate population include Mexico and Russia (11 million each), China (10 million), and Syria (8 million). India has the largest expatriate population in the world with 18 million people living outside their country according to a report by United Nations. The United Arab Emirates, The United States, and Saudi Arabia have the largest number of migrants from India (NDTV-Jan16,2021).
Foremost, remittances serve as a huge part of the Indian cash flow and economy. This is because the money sent home by Indian ex-pats is a vital source of income for low and middle-income countries. A great source to earn foreign exchange through international money transfer. Maintaining its top position, India remains the highest recipient of remittances from its ex-pats in 2022 as well. In addition to that NRIs will send home a record $100 billion in 2022 making India the first country ever to receive such a record sum of money flowing from ex-pats. The remittances are expected to surpass even the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) of India in 2022. In 2022, remittance to India was set to rise a whopping 12 percent, as per the report (ET Now-Depavali Hazrat).
Subsequently, there are a few factors that necessarily drive high remittances. Among these factors are shifts in work destination and job profile. More Indians have been going to destinations like high-income countries such as the United States, United Kingdom, Singapore, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, and so on. Now many are flocking to advanced nations where they also have the most coveted job profiles. Followed by long-term trends. Many Indians have been residing in countries like The US for more than 10 years. They fly there to study, earn a degree and have been employed since. This is one of the reasons for the increase in the rates of expatriates. Currently, this trend is followed in many other countries aside from just the US. Similarly, having a strong labour market. Indian ex-pats benefited from work-from-home mandates as well as large fiscal stimulus received during the pandemic in the United States. Though record-high inflation to some extent offset wage hikes, these countries managed to bounce back after Covid induced slowdowns. Lastly, we have the depreciation of the rupee. The depreciation of the rupee may have also helped in augmenting money remittances because the dollars and other currencies sent home by NRIs will mean more rupees in hands of Indians back home (ET Now-Depavali Hazrat).
Looking specifically into the Malaysia-India remittance market in this segment. Indian ex-pats in Malaysia are on the rise recently. Rounding off to approximately 150,000 Indian expatriates and workers in Malaysia. There are approximately 2.75 million Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs) in Malaysia constituting about 9% of the Malaysian population - (High Commission of India). As for expatriates living and working in Malaysia is possible in multiple ways. The best way is to be sent off to Malaysia as an expatriate by an international employer. As such an ex-pat package usually means you are able to live a wealthy life here in Malaysia. In Malaysia, we have Lotus Remit as one of the essential remittance companies serving the Indian Corridor and also provide the best rates for Money transfer to India. Lotus Remit has years of experience in assisting Indian ex-pats to send home money in an orderly and efficient manner. With the help of Fin-Tech Lotus Remit has efficient and fast-paced services that make it a reliable source. We also keep our charges completely transparent for client satisfaction and reliability.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Indian expatriates are a huge contributor to the Indian economy from all over the world. With the constantly growing rates of Indian expatriates around the world, it is no doubt that Indians are one of the largest remittance service utilizers. The current evolution of remittance alongside Fin-Tech helps ease the pathway for expatriates to transfer money to India. It is essential for remittance companies to keep their services up to date with current technological evolutions to expand the services in accordance with the higher demand in years to come. Here at Lotus Remit, we are always up to date with our services to maintain client satisfaction.