Indians Spend: In FY24, Indians set a new record by spending $31.7B overseas under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS), marking an significant increase from the $27.1B spent in FY23.
This significant rise in remittances occurred despite the imposition of tax collection at source (TCS). However, an analysis indicates a decline in the monthly average spending following the TCS implementation in October 2023.
Indians Spend…
A major driver of this increase was the surge in overseas travel spending, which reached $17B in FY24, up more than 24.5% from $13.6B in the year before.
International travel now constitutes 53.6% of LRS spending, a sharp rise from 37% in FY20, before the pandemic. Travel spending had previously plummeted to $3.2B in FY21 due to global mobility restrictions.
Conversely, the share of remittances allocated to education abroad has been decreasing. During the pandemic in FY21, education remittances made up 30% of the total, driven by limited travel options.
This share fell to 26% in FY22 as travel restrictions eased. Spending on education declined in absolute terms to $3.4B in FY23 from $5.2B in FY22, reducing its share to 12%. In FY24, education spending remained steady at nearly $3.5B, despite the surge in travel expenses.
Notably, education is no longer the second-largest category in forex spending. Indians spent $4.6B on maintaining relatives abroad, surpassing the expenditure on education fees.
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