India: Government Survey To Focus on Migrant Woes and Assess Remittance Risk

A national exercise will be conducted in India to find out the economic impact of COVID-19 on formal and informal sector migrant workers, and across industry segments, to capture the remittance pain different regions are facing. The household survey, likely to be carried out by the labor bureau, the data and survey wing of the Union labour ministry, will also capture remittance risks to the rural economy till the pandemic is contained, said two government officials, seeking anonymity.

In India, remittances are projected to fall about 23 percent in 2020 to $64 billion, against the 5.5 perc growth in 2019, according to an April World Bank report.