'Migrant workers' remittances to India to remain steady'

Singapore, Feb 29 : A changing pattern in Indian migrant workers across the world will ensure a steady flow of remittances into the country, which was USD 72 billion last year, making it the largest recipients of foreign-earned wages in the world, according to a leading global provider of money transfer services.

"More and more Indian white collar workers, such as professionals in the information technology and engineering fields, are working around the world," said Kaushik Roy, senior director for South Asia and Gulf Cooperation Countries at MoneyGram.

Ten years ago it was largely blue collar workers from India going to the Middle East. "The migration factor is much more diversified today, than it was 10 years ago when everybody was going to the Middle East," he said.

"Today the Indians are located across the world which mitigates any downturn in the value of remittance flows," said Roy who is confident of seeing a stable growth in remittances to India.

"India has bulk of the migrants workers in the world with deep roots back home," added Yogesh Sangle, a senior regional director for Asia Pacific at MoneyGram in Singapore.

These migrant workers are sending home money on a regular basis to support their families, education and investments, he pointed out. As per World Bank statistics, there are about 30 million Indian migrant workers out of 250 million spread globally, he said.

The flow of remittances have increased from USD 70 billion three years ago to USD 72 billion last year. It is now a little shy of four per cent of the Indian Gross Domestic Product and accounts for about 12 per cent of the USD 601 billion remittances globally.

Despite a number of crisis around the world and the likely impact of recent low crude oil prices on the Middle East economies, the flow of remittances to India have been stable since 2007, the company said.

PTI