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In June, the World of Statistics tweeted that “India leads the world as the top remittance recipient country and is the only country in human history to ever exceed $100 billion in annual remittances”.
New migrant remittance data from the World Bank shows that in 2025, India was a net recipient of US$138.6 billion in remittances from migrants living in other countries, up from US$57.1 billion in 2016:
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India’s nominal GDP was $3.96 trillion in 2025, so remittances were about 3.5% of India’s GDP.
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About the author
Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness.
Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.
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