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Money from Indians abroad surges six-fold

The traditional non-resident Indian hubs such as Kerala and Gujarat are steadily being replaced by information technology driven states such as Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh which are shaping up as the engines fuelling increased foreign remittances.

In the past decade remittances have spurted many-fold with the new generation of technically qualified and financially literate NRIs emigrating to the greener pastures of the West.

Direct contribution of NRIs grew four-fold from $3.605 billion in 1990 to $14.396 billion in 1999-2000,figures from the Reserve Bank of India show. In fact, throughout the last decade, NRI contribution kept doubling every two and a half years with more and more Indians heading abroad for placements in lucrative jobs, mainly in the US.

With the average earning level of these new generation NRI reigning at ten times the level of his traditional Gulf

counterpart, the spurt in remittances was inevitable, according to bankers.

Remittances too grew six-fold from $2.069 billion in the beginning of the 90's to $12.256 billion at the end of the decade, according to the Businessline newspaper. This spurt in NRI remittances followed India's entry into the IT arena in a big way by mid 90's, the bankers said pointing out that the NRIs while holding their savings abroad remitted monthly to their families in the country. Therefore, the surge in remittances was not accompanied by a corresponding growth in NRI deposits.

Lauding the Indians abroad, the report said from a mute spectator of the 70's, the ubiquitous NRI has increasingly assumed the role of an interactive participant in fuelling the economic development of the country.

Even as the deficit between imports and exports widened during the 90's, NRI resources helped to stabilise the country's precarious balance of payments.

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