A study of the flows of money into India by the Indian diaspora settling abroad may be quite interesting. And the reason for the government courting Non-Resident Indians could be found from the significant amount of foreign exchanges that the settlers abroad effect in each and every year. Although China has left us behind in so many fields but this happens to be one in which India can claim to be holding an edge. Be these include the realms  population,exports,manufacturing etc. Indians have successfully spread in all parts of the globe and settling in financially rewarding careers and making regular contributions to the growth of Indian economy by ensuring steady inflow of foreign exchange. A World Bank estimate puts the figure of remittances effected by immigrants worldwide at roughly $ 440 billion during the period 2010-2011. Quite a huge sum,indeed! Of the countries which stand out prominently are India,China,Mexico and Phillipines. It is no wonder then that the government of India has been trying its best to offer various sops to woo the Indian diaspora to actively engage them in the nation-building efforts. 

A clear picture as to the dominance of Indian immigrants would emerge from the fact that in 2010-2011 the number stood at almost 12 million which is one percent of India's total population. It is equally significant to note that Indian immigrants constitute  0.5% of the total immigrants of the world. As for percentage of remittances effected by them, it is more than 12%. A closer study of the data released by the World Bank would reveal that there has been a phenomenal rise in the remittances sent by Indian diaspora living in 190 countries of the world. Whereas  India received remittances worth $21 billion in 2003-2004, the figure remarkably rose to $55 billion in 2010-2011! Giving us a fair clue of the growing muscles of the Indian immigrants in our economy. Although almost all the states of the Indian Union have participated in the process of immigration but two Indian states have outperformed others are Kerala and Punjab. The honor of making the biggest amount of remittances go to these two states.There are have periods of fluctuations in between as global situations and developments sometimes affect the volume of remittances but what is true is that the overall trend has so remained steady. The distribution of these remittances too cover a number of countries and some developing countries also figure in the list. 

Why do the banks and financial institutions take special interest in executing these remittance of Indians living abroad? The reason lies in their making very attractive profits out of these transactions.
Banks and financial institutions have varying rates for buy and sale of foreign currencies and the difference which is known in their parlance as spread is commission income for them. It is said that this commission is estimated to be around $1 billion. In this regard care should be taken in understanding the fact that this remittance  is not real money alone, it may have such forms like domestic consumption,health,education etc. There were times when Indians who went to Gulf countries to better their economic prospects used to send money back to their families and this particular source was the most important one. But now things have changed substantially, educated Indians settling in the US and other European countries are taking active interest in our rapidly developing economy and the investing opportunities that it offers. Now we have a good number of countries such Saudi Arabia,Oman, United Arab Emirates,Baharin,Qatar,Kuwait,US,Canada even a few South-Asian countries. It is observed that Saudi Arabia,Oman,Qatar,United Arab Emirates and Baharin account for 30% of our remittances. Therefore, any negative political developments in the Gulf region result in the unstable flow of remittances from expatriates.

The falling rupee in recent months has been encouraging the expatriate Indians to remit money to India to take full advantage of this development. It has been observed that immigrants settling in the Gulf countries are in remitting spree during major festivals in India. Banks and money-exchanging  outfits gear themselves up to tap this boom.
The rising remittances from overseas destinations could be explained by a host of reasons such as immigration of highly skilled people grabbing opportunities existing on a global scale, creation of various channels for transfer of money - especially the IT technologies have rendered these operation very efficient and smooth. The changing perception of their own country as an emerging economic Super Power might be driving many of them to park more funds in industrial projects and schemes.  The government initiatives to devise various investment schemes with in-built Income Tax exemptions , reliefs and rebates are drawing and driving more expatriate money into the Indian economy. It is evident from the experience of the past few decades that this source of money would continue to grow enormously in future. 

The importance of foreign exchange remittances for our economy is unmistakably clear and based on this realization the government has been pursuing a policy at promoting and building bridges with non-residents Indians. The decision to grant dual citizenship is a step in line with this policy. But some vagueness still lies in such policy. 'Dual Citizenship' is applicable to some countries and needs to be extended to other countries as well. Similarly there is a need to make concerted efforts to protect the rights of our Indian diaspora. Their rights are violated and these cases need to be appropriately represented to the governments concerned of these countries.

Similarly we need to frame suitable strategies for better and efficient management of expatriate funds. In view of the global situation with rising crude oil prices and the resultant pressure on Indian rupee. Indian rupee is going to weaken further with the prospect of more inflows of the money and wealth of Indian expatriates. It is also important to note all the major Asian currencies are similarly weakening against dollar like Malaysian Ringit, Indonesian Rupiah, Philippines Peso etc. There is competition building up in attracting foreign exchange remittance that only goes to highlight the imperative need to have an imaginative, investors-friendly policy to ensure favorable response from persons who leave India temporarily or permanently to further their economic  prospects.