Dollar, Euro flow to Delhi, Gujarat; riyals, dinars to Kochi, Mumbai

MUMBAI: There is a distinct pattern in flow of remittances by the Indian diaspora. While Kochi and Mumbai receive more than 50% of remittances from the gulf region, the other major centres like Delhi, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru receive more than 60% of their remittances from Europe and North America together.

These were the findings of a survey conducted by the Reserve Bank of India on remittances by overseas Indians. The survey also indicates both Kochi and Mumbai receive bulk of their money at a monthly intervals compared to other cities. Kochi for instance gets 45% of its remittances at a monthly interval, while Mumbai receives 44% at monthly intervals. The national average for monthly receipts for remittances in 42%.

Explaining this trend, RBI has said that these variations reflect underlying migration patterns. The first phase of overseas migration picked up since the later seventies with the new oil finds and the resultant boom in the Persian Gulf region creating a huge demand for semi-skilled labour.

Migration was largely from Kerala and other part of the west coast including Mumbai then. The first phase of surge in remittances coincides with these developments.

However, since the nineties there has been a distinct change in the pattern of migration with the boom in the IT sector in North America and Europe. This resulted in large scale migration of skilled manpower to these regions. Many of them were from major southern states such as Karnataka and Hyderabad , where local IT companies were mushrooming then.

Both Punjab and Gujarat saw migration to Europe and US. The early migrants from Gujarat to East Africa also shifted their base to UK since the seventies, also resulted higher migration from Gujarat to UK. While for Migrants from Punjab, Canada is also a very popular destination.