Exported Indian

Thanks to our diaspora, we are the biggest remittance economy in the world

Instead of ringing up sales on their cash registers exporters around the world, including in India, are wringing their hands in despair at the ruinous tariffs that Trump has imposed across the board.

However, there is one Indian export that might well dodge the Don’s tariff bullet. This remarkable export has been a mainstay of the Indian economy for decades and remains so.

It brings in $129.1bn, more than our next biggest earner from abroad which are petroleum products, followed by gems and jewellery.

This single export brings in three times as much money as all foreign investments coming into India, and has helped to reduce our trade deficit.Indeed, in the early 2000s it reportedly reversed India’s trade deficit by earning us more than what we’d spent on our imports.

This singular, very special, very profitable export item is a product that this country has a super-abundance of:People – the migrants who keep adding to the great Indian diaspora, and out of their earnings send money back to support relatives at home. They have made our economy the biggest remittance economy in the world, beating that of China.

Maharashtra brings in over 20% of the total remittances, with Kerala hard on its heels with over 19%, and Tamil Nadu coming into third place at 10%. Telangana and Karnataka account for 8% and 7%, respectively.

Previously, while most remittances came from West Asian countries employing labour migrants, now US, UK and Singapore are the biggest importers of highly skilled Indians.

Though the Trump regime’s anti-immigration drive could see a decline in the US market, Indian inventiveness will find new openings elsewhere. It has to, thanks to the unintended incentive given to it by our economic policies, which have created jobless growth and resulted in mass unemployment.

Remittances are the silver lining of the dark cloud of this new Quit India movement.