Remittances data

May 10, 2022
Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
Category: DPN Topics

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Remittances data

Subject: Economy

Section: External Sector

Context:

Every year, about 2.5 million workers from India move to different parts of the world on employment visas.

Details:

According to the Ministry of External Affairs, there are over 13.4 million Non-Resident Indians worldwide.
Of the total, 64% live in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, the highest being in the United Arab Emirates, followed by Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.
Almost 90% of the Indian migrants to the GCC countries are low and semi-skilled workers,
Other significant countries of destination for overseas Indians are the U.S., the U.K., Australia, and Canada.
As per a World Bank Group report (2021),annual remittances transferred to India are estimated to be $87 billion- highest in the world, followed by China ($53 billion), Mexico ($53 billion), the Philippines ($36 billion) and Egypt ($33 billion).
India’s Remittances contribute 3% in GDP and is lower than that of countries such as Nepal (24.8%), Pakistan (12.6%), Sri Lanka (8.3%) and Bangladesh (6.5%),
Remittances in India have been substantially higher than even Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and the flow of remittances is much less fluctuating than that of FDI.

Emigration Bill 2021

The Bill intends to replace the Emigration Act of 1983.
The Bill envisages comprehensive emigration management, institutes regulatory mechanisms governing overseas employment of Indian nationals and establishes a framework for protection and promotion of welfare of emigrants.
The bill proposes a three-tier institutional framework:
- It launches a new emigration policy division in (MEA) which will be referred to as the Central Emigration Management Authority.
- It proposes a Bureau of Emigration Policy and Planning, and a Bureau of Emigration Administration shall handle day-to-day operational matters and oversee the welfare of emigrants.
- It proposes nodal agencies under a Chief Emigration Officer to ensure the welfare and protection of the emigrants.
It permits government authorities to punish workers by canceling or suspending their passports and imposing fines up to Rs 50,000 for violating any of the Bill’s provisions.
When enforced, it can be used as a tool to crackdown on workers who migrate through unregistered brokers or via irregular arrangements such as on tourist visas.
The proposed legislation will also maintain registration of human resources agencies, validity and renewal and cancellation of a certificate.
Besides, authorities will be empowered to have certain powers of the civil court.

The “e-Migrate” system

To regulate overseas employment especially for protection of less educated blue collar workers, the Emigration Check Required process is regulated through a unique computerized system called “e-Migrate”. This is a system which is integrated with the Passport Sewa Project of the Ministry of External Affairs and Bureau of Immigration of the Ministry of Home Affairs on one-hand and the Indian Missions in the 18 ECR countries, Foreign Employers and the Registered Recruiting Agents on the other.

Whenever an emigrant arrives at an airport or check-post to proceed abroad, his Passport details are validated online by the Immigration Officers and only those who have obtained Emigration Clearance are allowed to travel. This is a measure to ensure protection against possible exploitation of the Indian workers.

It functions under the control of Protector General of Emigrants who exercises directly or through Protector of Emigrants the powers and responsibilities under the Emigration Act, 1983 through the system, to ensure protection of Indian emigrants proceeding abroad, for overseas employment.