India received $3.2 billion in private remittances from the United States in 2009, almost the same as China, a new Congressional report has said.
In 2009, 10 countries accounted for over $32 billion, or about 40%, of net private remittances and related flows from the United States, said the Congressional Budget Office in its report, "Migrant's Remittances and Related Economic Flows."
People in Mexico received about $20 billion, the largest single share by far, about 61% of the total receipts for the 10 countries.
"People in India and China received over $3 billion each and together accounted for about 20% of the total for those 10 countries," said the 28-page report.
"Between 2000 and 2009, net private remittances and related flows to those 10 countries grew by an average of 7% per year (not adjusted for inflation)," it said.
"Such transfers to people in India experienced double-digit growth over the period, rising from $1.1 billion in 2000 to $3.2 billion in 2009, an average increase of 13% per year," the report said.
Transfers to people in China rose from $1.5 billion in 2000 to $3.2 billion in 2009, an average increase of 9% per year.
Such transfers to Canada were erratic over the period; they rose from $0.5 billion in 2000 to $2.2 billion in 2009, but net outflows from Canada occurred in some of the intervening years.
Although a substantial share of net private remittances and related flows went to 10 countries -- Mexico, China, India, Canada, Korea, Brazil, Netherlands, Luxembourg , Taiwan and Japan -– other countries experienced faster growth in such transfers over the past decade, the report said.
The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) estimates that migrants' remittances totaled about $48 billion in 2009 -- nearly 70% more than official development assistance provided by the US government.
Nearly $38 billion of that amount was personal transfers by foreign-born residents in the United States to households abroad.
The rest, about $11 billion, reflected the compensation of employees who were in the United States for less than a year. Some of that compensation, however, was spent in the United States.
