New Delhi: Remittances under the Reserve Bank of India's Liberalized Remittance Scheme (LRS) increased by 20.22 per cent to $24.80 billion during the April-December 2024 period due to strong growth across all sectors. The fund flow under this scheme has mainly come from the international travel segment. Equity, debt investments and money received from close relatives have also added to it.
According to the latest Reserve Bank data, remittances under the LRS rose to $24.80 billion in the nine-month period to December 2023 from $20.63 billion in the same period last year. In the third quarter of financial year 2024, the amount of remittance has increased by 7.89 percent annually. In the third quarter of FY 2023 it was $6457.72 million.
Investments in equity and debt schemes rose 56.8 percent to $109.091 million in the first nine months of FY2024, compared to only $69.713 million a year ago.
Foreign markets have performed very well in the last 9 months. Many investors were looking for diversification. Hence equity and debt investments increased. Similarly, remittances sent to close relatives increased by nearly 29 percent to $3,684 million. At the same time, money sent to buy real estate abroad increased by 49.67 percent to $183.75 million.
International travel, the largest segment of remittances, grew 22.74 percent to $13.40 billion. In the same period a year ago, it was only 10.92 billion dollars.