India tops global inward remittances list at $69 bn in in 2012: World Bank

India has emerged the largest recipient of overseas remittances in the world, with inward remittances of $69 billion in 2012, even as global remittances reached $514 billion during the year, the World Bank said in a report.

China is second in the list of countries receiving remittances, with $60 billion inflows in 2012, followed by the Philippines ($24 billion), Mexico ($23 billion) and Nigeria and Egypt ($21 billion each), the report said.

Pakistan, Bangladesh, Vietnam, and Lebanon also were large recipients of overseas remittances during the year.

Remittance flows to developing countries have more than quadrupled since 2000, while global remittances, including those to high-income countries, are estimated to have reached $514 billion in 2012, compared to $132 billion in 2000, World Bank said in a report released today.

Officially recorded remittance to developing countries grew 5.3 per cent to an estimated $401 billion in 2012, according to the latest edition of the World Bank's `Migration and Development Brief'.

The report also projected an 8.8 per cent annual average increase in remittances to developing countries over the next three years, to reach $515 billion in 2015.

The World Bank also announced the establishment of the Global Knowledge Partnership on Migration and Development (KNOMAD), which would be a global hub of knowledge and policy expertise on migration issues.

"Migration and remittances offer a vital lifeline for millions of people and can play a major role in an economy's take-off. They enable people to partake in the global labour market and create resources that can be leveraged for development and growth.

"But they are also a source of political contention, and for that very reason deserving of dispassionate analysis," said Kaushik Basu, the World Bank's chief economist and senior vice president for development economics.

Remittances to South Asia as a whole increased by 12.8 per cent in 2012 against annual average increases of 13.8 per cent in the previous two years, the World Bank report said.

Since many migrants send money and goods through people or informal channels, the true size of remittances could be much larger than the official figures, the report noted.

In 2011, Tajikistan reported remittance inflows equal to 47 per cent of its gross domestic product (GDP), followed by Liberia (31 per cent), Kyrgyz Republic (29 per cent), Lesotho (27 per cent), Moldova (23 per cent), Nepal (22 per cent), and Samoa (21 per cent), the report added.