Global financial crisis has so far failed to significantly slow down inflow of remittances in India, the Reserve Bank said.
"Available information indicates that inward remittances to India have not been impacted significantly by the economic crisis," the RBI said in its annual report contradicting popular perception of a severe impact on remittances.
According to the World Bank estimates (July 2009), remittance flows to developing countries, which increased to
$328 billion in 2008 from $285 billion in 2007, are projected to decline by 7.3 per cent in 2009, the RBI said.
Europe and Central Asia are expected to experience the largest decline (15 per cent) among all developing regions in 2009. However, remittance flows to South Asia are expected to decline more modestly by 4 per cent, the report said.
India remained the top recipient of migrant remittances with $52 billion in 2008 as against $38.7 billion, it said citing the World Bank estimates, and added remittance flows to South Asia have continued strong growth in 2009.
Uncertainties in oil prices might have "induced the workers to remit their money to India as a hedging mechanism
due to its relatively better growth prospects", the report noted as one of the factors for higher remittances in India.
