India Received $118.7 Billion From Abroad in 2023-24. Who Sent It?
In 2023-24, Indians living abroad sent home $118.7 billion, according to the Reserve Bank of India's sixth survey of inward remittances. That is about ₹9.88 lakh crore (₹9.88 trillion), and more than twice the $55.6 billion recorded for 2010-11. Remittances have hovered around 3% of India's GDP since 2000.
Most people picture a construction worker in the Gulf sending money to a village in Kerala. The survey says that picture is out of date. Advanced economies now supply about 51% of the money and the Gulf countries about 38%. The money still lands in a handful of states, and it still costs the sender about 4.9% to move.
The mix has shifted west
In 2016-17 the UAE was the biggest single source, at 26.9% of the total, and the US was second at 22.9%. By 2023-24 the order had reversed. The US supplied 27.7%, roughly $33 billion, and the UAE 19.2%. The UK's share more than tripled, from 3.0% to 10.8%. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the UAE all lost share.
The table below gives the shares for the three most recent survey rounds.
Source country | 2016-17 | 2020-21 | 2023-24 |
United States | 22.9% | 23.4% | 27.7% |
UAE | 26.9% | 18.0% | 19.2% |
United Kingdom | 3.0% | 6.8% | 10.8% |
Saudi Arabia | 11.6% | 5.1% | 6.7% |
Singapore | 5.5% | 2.4% | 6.6% |
Kuwait | 6.5% | 1.5% | 3.9% |
Qatar | not shown | 5.7% | 4.1% |
Canada | 3.0% | 1.6% | 3.8% |
Oman | 1.0% | 0.6% | 2.5% |
Australia | not shown | not shown | 2.3% |
Bahrain | 0.7% | 0.7% | 1.5% |
Others | 14.8% | 31.6% | 4.4% |
Read it with one caution. The "Others" row shrank from 31.6% in 2020-21 to 4.4% in 2023-24, a sign that the rounds are not perfectly comparable. The RBI's own like-for-like figures use only countries covered in every round. On that basis advanced economies supplied 51.0% in 2023-24 and the Gulf countries 33.7%, against about 38% for the Gulf in the RBI's main text.
Where the money lands
Remittances are not spread evenly across the country. In 2023-24 Maharashtra received 20.5% of the total and Kerala 19.7%. Tamil Nadu followed at 10.4%, Telangana at 8.1% and Karnataka at 7.7%. Uttar Pradesh, the most populous state, received 3.0%.
Kerala's share is about 6.6 times Uttar Pradesh's, although Uttar Pradesh has roughly six times Kerala's population (2011 census). Per person the gap is about 40 times, by our calculation. A likely reason is that many migrants from Uttar Pradesh work in other Indian states, and the survey counts only money sent from abroad.
The state shares in all three rounds are below.
State | 2016-17 | 2020-21 | 2023-24 |
Maharashtra | 16.7% | 35.2% | 20.5% |
Kerala | 19.0% | 10.2% | 19.7% |
Tamil Nadu | 8.0% | 9.7% | 10.4% |
Telangana | not shown | not shown | 8.1% |
Karnataka | 15.0% | 5.2% | 7.7% |
Uttar Pradesh | 3.1% | 3.7% | 3.0% |
The swings in the middle column are large. Maharashtra's share more than doubled between 2016-17 and 2020-21, then fell by almost 15 points. Karnataka's went from 15.0% to 5.2% and partly recovered. Real flows rarely move that fast, so we read the state rankings as survey estimates: reliable for the broad pattern and shaky on the detail.
What it costs to send money home
The sender pays to move the money, and the family at the other end receives less. The RBI puts the average cost of sending $200 to India at 4.9% in 2023. The Sustainable Development Goals set a target of 3% or less by 2030. India's average is lower than the global average, according to Business Standard's reading of the survey, but it is still above the target.
Scenario | Cost rate | Cost on a $200 transfer | Cost over 12 monthly transfers |
Average cost in 2023 | 4.9% | $9.80 | $117.60 |
Target for 2030 | 3.0% | $6.00 | $72.00 |
Gap | 1.9 points | $3.80 | $45.60 |
Picture a household that receives $200 every month (a hypothetical case). At today's average cost it loses $117.60 a year to fees, and at the target it would lose $72. Across millions of transfers the gap adds up. The survey also found that small transfers are the most expensive: the weighted average cost for amounts under $200 was the highest of any size bracket. Digital channels carried about 73.5% of the remittances handled by money transfer operators in 2023-24.
Bigger than it looks, and measured several ways
Net remittance receipts financed about 42% of India's merchandise trade deficit on average between 2010-11 and 2023-24, leaving out 2020-21, according to the RBI. Remittances contracted 3.6% in 2020-21 and then grew by an average of 14.3% a year over the next three years. Across the whole period, the rise from $55.6 billion to $118.7 billion works out to about 6.0% a year in current dollars.
Later data point higher. RBI figures on private transfers show a record $135.46 billion for 2024-25, up 14%, according to IANS reporting carried by All India Radio's news site. The same report gave $129.4 billion for calendar 2024. These come from different series, so we do not compare them directly with the survey's $118.7 billion. Figures for 2025-26 are still being reported with conflicting numbers, so we leave them out.
The inclusion angle
Remittances are one of the few large flows of foreign money that reach households directly, with no company or government in between. A transfer that arrives through a bank also leaves a record. For a family with no payslip, that record may be the only evidence of regular income a lender can see.
That is an argument, not a finding. The survey tells us how much money arrives and from where. It does not tell us how many recipient families save any of it, borrow against it or get a loan because of it. We would like to see that data.
What to watch
The cost of sending $200, and whether it falls towards 3%.
The US excise tax of 1% on cash-funded remittances, in force since 1 January 2026. Transfers made through bank accounts and US-issued debit and credit cards are exempt. Modelling by the Center for Global Development, as reported by Outlook Business in 2025, suggested India could lose around $500 million a year in formal remittances. We have not found data since January.
Whether the shift towards the US and UK continues. A plausible reading is that more Indian migrants now work in higher-paid jobs in advanced economies, but the survey shows where the money comes from, not why.
The next survey round, and whether the state pattern holds.
Our view: the macro number gets the attention, but the unit that matters is the household. $118.7 billion is millions of small transfers, each losing about 4.9% on the way in. Getting that to 3% would put about $3.80 more into every $200 transfer. What happens to the money once it lands is the part the survey does not measure.
Related reading on The Money Clause: The Price of Being Poor: Why Poverty Is More Expensive Than You Think and Why Some Countries Stay Poor: The Institutional Economics Answer.
Sources
RBI Bulletin: Survey on India's Inward Remittances, sixth round
Business Standard: India's inward remittances cost remains lower than global average
Outlook Business: Share of remittances from advanced economies surpasses that of Gulf
Onmanorama: Remittances to Kerala recover from pandemic slump
Outlook Business: How the US 1% remittance tax could echo through the Indian economy
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