Money in,money out

Indians abroad send money home. Indians at home send money out. Both cross the same border.

In 2024-25, Indians abroad sent home $135.4 bn, and Indians at home sent $29.6 bn abroad

US: the United States; UAE: the United Arab Emirates; UK: the United Kingdom. NRI: non-resident Indian. Sent abroad: under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS), which lets residents send money out each year.

Private transfers received, NRI deposits outstanding and LRS remittances, Database on Indian Economy (DBIE); shares of money sent home by country, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Bulletin, 19-03-2025. Tap the board to flip it again.

Other countries, not shown on the map: 10.9%

Share sent from a country, low to highThe same, for Gulf countriesFlow into India, as wide as the shareIndiaOther countries, not shown on the map: 10.9%
$100Into India, from Indians abroad$22Out of India, under the LRSEach bundle is $10 of every $100 that came in, 2024-25.

$135.4 bn in; $165.7 bn kept; $29.6 bn out

1.67x
money sent home against gross FDI, 2023-24
11.6% vs 34.8%
a typical year’s move, money sent home against FDI
27.7%
of remittances from the US, 2023-24
$65.40 bn
FCNR(B) deposits drawn by the 2026 window, to 21-08-2026
57.4%
of money sent abroad under the LRS went on travel, 2024-25
−37.7%
money sent abroad in October 2023, the month the higher tax began

The Ministry of Finance said the 2026 window showed that the diaspora “have reposed faith in the Indian banking system” (PIB, 24-08-2026).

SOURCES

Reserve Bank of India, as published on DBIE: invisibles by category of transactions (private transfers received, 1950-51 to 2024-25); foreign investment inflows (gross FDI); outward remittances under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme, by purpose, monthly; NRI deposits outstanding, monthly, by account.

Not on DBIE: the shares by source country and destination state, from the RBI’s remittances survey (RBI Bulletin, 19-03-2025); the FCNR(B) deposits drawn by the 2026 window, from the Ministry of Finance (Press Information Bureau, PIB, 24-08-2026); the LRS limits, from the RBI’s circulars; and the events marked on the charts, from RBI and Government of India documents, each linked where it is shown.

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Money sent home and gross FDI by year (CSV)

NRI deposits by month and account (CSV)

Money sent abroad under the LRS, by purpose and year (CSV)

Money sent abroad under the LRS, by month (CSV)

Shares by country and state, RBI survey (CSV)

METHOD

Money sent home. The story uses private transfers received in India’s balance of payments, which the Ministry of Finance reports as inward remittances. It includes local withdrawals from NRI deposits. Compensation of employees ($8.3 bn in 2024-25) is counted as income, not here.

Steadiness. The typical year’s move is the standard deviation of the change on the year before, over 2005-06 to 2023-24, the years DBIE carries gross FDI for both a year and the one before.

The survey. Shares come from banks’ reports to the RBI. For 2023-24 they cover transfers for family maintenance and savings and local withdrawals from NRI accounts. The survey gives countries and states separately, so no country is joined to a state.

NRI deposits. Non-Resident External (NRE), Foreign Currency Non-Resident (Banks) (FCNR(B)) and Non-Resident Ordinary (NRO) accounts summed. DBIE’s own yearly total for March 2026 reads five times that sum, so it is not used; its monthly total agrees with the sum in every month shown.

Money sent abroad. Before June 2015 several purposes had limits of their own and are missing from the LRS figures; they were folded into the LRS on 26-05-2015, so monthly figures start in June 2015 and purposes in 2015-16. The falls in October 2020 and October 2023 compare each month with the month before.