International Migration from India and Inflow of Remittances

Kunal Keshri, International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS)
Ram B. Bhagat, International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS)

There is a complete dearth of literature on international out-migration from India and inflow of remittances. Set to this context the present study attempts to explore the pattern and magnitude of international out-migration from India, assess the background characteristics of out-migrants and the inflow of remittances, using the recently released data of 64th round of National Sample Survey (2007-2008). It is found that large number of emigrants from India are living out-side the country (4.4 million) and state of Kerala has contributed more than one third of emigrants. Interestingly, a substantial number of people migrate to other countries for short duration and majority of them are from Delhi, Bihar and Kerala. Major proportions of out-migrants are males, belonged to the age-group of 20-40 years, migrated for employment purpose and came from households having higher expenditure. Emigrants from urban areas have remit higher amount of money than their rural counterparts.