Remittances to India surge 25% on yuan devaluation

Devaluation of Chinese currency weakens rupee, leading to attractive exchange rates

NRI remittances to India jumped by up to 25 per cent in the past few days as the devaluation of the Chinese yuan weakened the rupee and led to attractive exchange rates, top executives of exchange houses in the UAE have said.

The exchange rate for the rupee hovered between 17-17.35 these past two weeks and on Friday touched 18 against the UAE dirham. It hit 18.10 on Monday -- the lowest since 2013.

White-collar workers in the UAE took advantage of the freefall of currencies and remitted more money compared to the past few months, according to a report in the Khaleej Times.

Exchange rates for rupee across the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) have also been at their highest in quite some time, with the currency going for 18.70 against the Qatari riyal, 17.29 against the Saudi riyal, 173.05 against the Omani riyal, 217.49 against the Kuwaiti dinar, and 174.06 against the Bahraini dinar, the report said.

Favourable exchange rates helped surge remittances to India between 20 per cent and 25 per cent, it said.

Last year, India received $70.4 billion remittances from its worldwide diaspora.

The NRIs based in the UAE sent home $12.6 billion remittances in 2014, according to the World Bank.

According to industry insiders, blue-collar workers couldn't take advantage of record low exchange rates as they send money at specific dates every month after getting their salaries.

The current fall in rupee is mostly attributed to the falling oil prices as well as the strengthening of the dollar. Earlier in the month, China devalued its yuan that stirred equity as well as currency markets globally.

There are about 2.5 million non-resident Indians in the UAE.

Many salaried expats hope for the rate to stay like this for some time, so that they can capitalise on the good exchange rate, since they have already remitted a part of their income at the start of the month and have to wait until the next pay comes to make any transactions, the report said.