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Non resident Keralites remit Rs 257.9 B in state
Wednesday, 12 March 2003, 20:30 IST
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Even after three decades, Kerala's Middle East boom is still going strong and remittances from almost 1.6 million of the state's expatriates are clocking a consistent rise.
According to the State Level Bankers' Committee, total deposits in Kerala banks as of June 30 last year were to the tune of 
528.22 billion, of which deposits from non-resident Keralites (NRKs) touched an all time high of 257.91 billion.
This was up from 187.24 billion of NRK deposits in March 2000 and 214.31 billion in 2001.
S. Irudayarajan, a professor at the Centre for Development Studies (CDS) here who has studied the socio-economic status of NRKs, told IANS: "The boom is not over. The only difference I can make out is that the numbers (of migrants) might have come down.
"This means Kerala, which was exporting a large labour force, is slowly changing it to export of quality labour. This can be gauged from the fact that remittances are not going down but increasing. What 100 people were sending a decade back is now being send by less than half that number."
Irudayarajan, who was in the Middle East three weeks ago on a private visit, found that among Keralites living in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), five percent earn above 10,000 dirhams a month while 20 percent get between 5,000 and 10,000 and another 20 percent between 1,000 and 5,000. Fifty percent earn less than 1,000 dirhams a month.
"This would not have been the case a decade back. From now on, given the present labour conditions in the UAE, the numbers in the 50 percent category could come down and there could be a probable increase in the other salary brackets. For this the Kerala government should first study the profile of expatriates to make any sort of intervention," Irudayarajan suggested.
In a study conducted in 1998, a team of researchers from CDS including Irudayarajan estimated that there were about 1.6 million Keralites working abroad and about 800,000 had returned to their home state.
"There were reports that close to 25,000 Keralites would return from the UAE and as far as I know those who have come back as a result of the amnesty granted (to illegal workers) number less than 1,000," said Irudayarajan.
The researchers stressed the need for proper documentation of Keralites going abroad to work and returning after brief stints overseas. They said the only way to keep track of the movement of people from the Middle East was monitoring it at Kerala's three airports and in Mumbai.
Source: IANS
528.22 billion, of which deposits from non-resident Keralites (NRKs) touched an all time high of 257.91 billion.
This was up from 187.24 billion of NRK deposits in March 2000 and 214.31 billion in 2001.
S. Irudayarajan, a professor at the Centre for Development Studies (CDS) here who has studied the socio-economic status of NRKs, told IANS: "The boom is not over. The only difference I can make out is that the numbers (of migrants) might have come down.
"This means Kerala, which was exporting a large labour force, is slowly changing it to export of quality labour. This can be gauged from the fact that remittances are not going down but increasing. What 100 people were sending a decade back is now being send by less than half that number."
Irudayarajan, who was in the Middle East three weeks ago on a private visit, found that among Keralites living in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), five percent earn above 10,000 dirhams a month while 20 percent get between 5,000 and 10,000 and another 20 percent between 1,000 and 5,000. Fifty percent earn less than 1,000 dirhams a month.
"This would not have been the case a decade back. From now on, given the present labour conditions in the UAE, the numbers in the 50 percent category could come down and there could be a probable increase in the other salary brackets. For this the Kerala government should first study the profile of expatriates to make any sort of intervention," Irudayarajan suggested.
In a study conducted in 1998, a team of researchers from CDS including Irudayarajan estimated that there were about 1.6 million Keralites working abroad and about 800,000 had returned to their home state.
"There were reports that close to 25,000 Keralites would return from the UAE and as far as I know those who have come back as a result of the amnesty granted (to illegal workers) number less than 1,000," said Irudayarajan.
The researchers stressed the need for proper documentation of Keralites going abroad to work and returning after brief stints overseas. They said the only way to keep track of the movement of people from the Middle East was monitoring it at Kerala's three airports and in Mumbai.
Source: IANS