GCC NRIs remitting record money to India despite stronger rupee

Gulf-based non-resident Indians (NRIs) continue to remit record sums of money back home despite the rupee holding up its own against the US dollar and the Gulf countries’ dollar-pegged currencies.



According to the Word Bank’s latest Migration Development Brief, India remains the largest recipient country in the world, with an estimated remittance amount of $75 billion in 2013, up from almost $70 billion that NRIs remitted home last year.

“In addition to large numbers of unskilled migrants working mainly in the GCC, India also has a large skilled diaspora sending money home, and their prospects in major sending countries (like the US, where the H1B visa quota was rapidly filled this year) are improving,” the World Bank report highlights.

According to the report, NRIs would remit up to $85 billion a year by 2015. This surge in remittances is occurring despite the Indian rupee holding firm below resistance levels of Rs15 vs. Dh1 (Rs55 vs. $1).

The Indian rupee has stubbornly stayed below the Rs15-mark against the UAE dirham this year, going above that magical number just for one day in 2013 on Tuesday, January 8.

In fact, unlike 2012, when the Indian rupee fluctuated widely between Rs13.23 (February 4, 2012) and Rs15.55 (June 23, 2012) against the UAE dirham, this year, the rupee has been much more stable. In 2013 so far, the Indian rupee has seen a high of Rs14.46 (February 7, 2013) and a low of Rs15.03 (January 8, 2013).