Private remittances from US to India totalled $3.2 billion in 2009

India received $3.2 billion in private remittances from the United States in 2009, almost the same as China, a new Congressional report has said.

In 2009, 10 countries accounted for over $32 billion, or about 40 per cent, of net private remittances and related flows from the United States, said the Congressional budget office in its report, Migrant's Remittances and Related Economic Flows.

People in Mexico received about $20 billion, the largest single share by far, about 61% of the total receipts for the 10 countries.

"People in India and China received over $3 billion each and together accounted for about 20% of the total for those 10 countries," said the 28-page report.

"Between 2000 and 2009, net private remittances and related flows to those 10 countries grew by an average of 7% per year (not adjusted for inflation)," it said.

"Such transfers to people in India experienced double-digit growth over the period, rising from $1.1 billion in 2000 to $3.2 billion in 2009, an average increase of 13% per year," the report said.

Transfers to people in China rose from $1.5 billion in 2000 to $3.2 billion in 2009, an average increase of 9% per year.

Such transfers to Canada were erratic over the period; they rose from $0.5 billion in 2000 to $2.2 billion in 2009, but net outflows from Canada occurred in some of the intervening years.

Although a substantial share of net private remittances and related flows went to 10 countries -- Mexico, China, India, Canada, Korea, Brazil, Netherlands, Luxembourg , Taiwan and Japan - other countries experienced faster growth in such transfers over the past decade, the report said.

The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) estimates that migrants' remittances totaled about $48 billion in 2009 --nearly 70% more than official development assistance provided by the US government.

Nearly $38 billion of that amount was personal transfers by foreign-born residents in the United States to households abroad.

The rest, about $11 billion, reflected the compensation of employees who were in the United States for less than a year. Some of that compensation, however, was spent in the United States.