India Received Highest Remittances from UAE in 4th Quarter of 2017

India was the top remittance receiving nation from migrant workers living in the United Arab Emirates in the fourth quarter of 2017, revealed statistics from the gulf nation’s monetary authority.

India received a total of Dh14.8 billion, which comprised 34.2 per cent of the total remittances worth Dh43.2 billion during the fourth quarter, reported Khaleej Times. According to the Central Bank of the UAE report, the total remittances from the country increased by 2.2 percent to Dh164.3 billion in 2017 as compared to Dh160.8 billion the previous year. A total of Dh121.66 billion was transferred through money exchanges, while the rest went through financial institutions, Arab News reported.

Pakistan followed India, with Dh4.1 billion, receiving 9.4 per cent of the total remittances. The Philippines took the third place with 7.1 per cent while American workers living and working in the UAE sent home Dh2.6 billion or 5.9 per cent of total remittances.

The other major recipient countries were recorded as Egypt (Dh2.4 billion; 5.5 per cent), Britain (Dh1.8 billion; 4.2 per cent) and Bangladesh (Dh1.5 billion; 3.6 per cent).

Around 800 million family members are estimated to receive money sent by Non-Resident Indian relatives, who number about 200 million worldwide, according to the Arab News report.

The authorities in the UAE have been very stringent about the rules and regulation for transferring money in the past years. Financial institutions have been directed to register the details of any person wiring or changing as small an amount as Dh2,000. The move aims to curb money laundering efforts and non-formal remittance activities through hawala transaction — an alternative remittance system, usually trust-based, that is popular among South-Asian workers, and which enables one to send any amount of money home at a lower fee than exchange houses.

Indian expatriates sent the maximum amount of remittances back home from the UAE in the third quarter of 2017 as well, according to UAE Central Bank figures released in December 2017. Foreign residents in total sent Dh121.1 billion to home countries between January and September 2017. During the third quarter of the year, Dh43.3 billion was sent by expats to their home countries, of which Indians sent Dh15.46 billion.

The total remittances sent during January-September 2017 were 2.1 per cent higher than the amount sent during the same period last year, which was Dh118.6 billion.