Outward remittances under India's LRS decline 5%, says RBI Bulletin

Remittances for studies abroad grew marginally to $416.39 million

Outward remittances under the Reserve Bank of India’s Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS) fell 4.97 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) to $3.2 billion in August 2024 compared to $3.37 billion last year due to tepid growth in the international travel segment.

However, the remittances under the scheme grew sequentially by 16.6 per cent from $2.75 billion in July 2024.

Introduced in 2004, the LRS scheme allows all resident individuals to remit up to $250,000 per financial year for any permissible current or capital account transaction, or a combination of both, free of charge.

In the initial phase, the scheme was introduced with a limit of $25,000 and this was revised gradually.

International travel remittances, which is the largest contributor accounting for over 60 per cent, slipped by 1.3 per cent Y-o-Y to $2.01 billion from $2.04 billion in August 2023.

Remittances for the maintenance of close relatives dropped by 16.65 per cent to $315.4 million. Likewise, the remittances under the ‘gift’ category rose by nearly 9 per cent from last year to $244.4 million.

The investments in equity and debt schemes rose by 33.18 per cent to $125.3 million from $94.08 million. The remittances for studying abroad grew marginally to $416.39 million, while the purchase of immovable property grew by nearly 38 per cent to $22.49 million. The remittances for deposits dropped 24.9 per cent Y-o-Y to $45.56 million.