Foreign travel top reason why India's overseas remittances doubled

Spending on international travel tripled in April 2022 as Covid-related curbs were eased in various countries in FY22.

Outward remittances by resident Indians crossed the $2 billion mark to $2.02 billion in April 2022, almost doubling from level of $1.18 billion in the same month last year, according to Reserve Bank of India data.

Three key heads of spending this April were travel, at $880 million ($284 million in April 2021); maintenance of relatives $385 million ($240 million); and gifts worth $299 million ($161 million). This is under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS) for resident individuals.

RBI data showed that the spending on international travel tripled in April 2022 as Covid-related curbs eased in various countries in FY22. The spending on travel was $6.91 billion in FY22, more than twice that spent in FY21. In FY20, however, spending on travel was almost $6.95 billion. This indicates overseas travel spending is back to pre-Covid levels.

Outward remittances were at an all-time high in FY22. The remittances rose by 54.6 per cent to $19.61 billion in FY22 from $12.68 billion a year ago. They were at $18.76 billion in FY20, and $13.78 billion in FY19.