Outward remittances hit new high at $29 billion in April 2023-February 2024

In February 2024, the outward remittances stood at $2.01 billion, which was 23% lower than $2.62 billion in January 2024

Outward remittances under the liberalised remittance scheme (LRS) jumped 21.7 per cent to touch a new high of $29 billion during the April 2023-February 2024 period, according to the latest data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

Indians remitted $29.43 billion abroad during the April-February period as compared to $24.18 billion in the same period of the previous year.

In the entire FY23, the remittances clocked a record high of $27.14 billion.

Remittances under LRS, which had witnessed a drop in FY21 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, witnessed recovery from FY22 and continued to rise in FY23 as well.

In February 2024, the outward remittances stood at $2.01 billion which was 23 per cent lower from $2.62 billion in January 2024.

In the April-February period of FY24, the international travel segment rose to $16 billion, 27.91 per cent up from $12.51 billion in the year ago period.

This growth was followed by funds used for maintenance of close relatives and overseas education which stood at $4.22 billion and $3.28 billion respectively.

Remittances in February slipped nearly 4 per cent on a year-on-year (YoY) basis from $2.1 billion in February 2023 on account of a drop in international travel.

According to February data, international travel which accounted for over 50 per cent of the entire outward remittances under the scheme marginally dropped to $1.05 billion – a decline of 1.6 per cent from the same year ago period.

The remittance by Indians under the scheme for maintenance of close relatives was $266.39 million, followed by $246.82 million for overseas education, and $233.91 million as gifts.

The LRS scheme was introduced in 2004, allowing 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.

Outward Remittances under the LRS

Financial Year	Total [In ($) mn]
2018-19	13787.58
2019-20	18760.69
2020-21	12684.4
2021-22	19610.77
2022-23	27140.65
Apr 2023-Feb 2024	29433.38

*Source: RBI Bulletin