Remittances: Pain for India, China with Covid-19 striking across the world

Remittances are financial or in-kind transfers made by migrants directly to families or communities in their countries of origin. The World Bank compiles the data on international remittances, despite gaps because of differing definitions of migrants. The data, however, do not capture unrecorded flows through formal or informal channels, so the actual magnitude is likely larger than available estimates.

The data reflects an overall increase in remittances in recent decades, from $126 billion in 2000 to $689 billion in 2018. There was a 9 per cent jump in remittances in 2018, up from $633 billion in 2017. Seen in terms