Women migrants send back 73% income: InstaReM Report

As per the latest report from InstaReM, a cross-border remittances company, women migrants across the globe are sending nearly 73 percent of their income back home.

Remittances are "an invaluable contribution" to national development for many developing countries. Around the globe, roughly 258 million immigrants send money to their families. These remittances directly support about 800 million people around the world.

Poised to now open their India operations, InstaReM, sliced the global remittances data to focus on women, to debunk some common theories about women and remittances. The results obtained thereafter are a reflection of women's commitment to their home and family.

"Migrant women comprise over half of global remittances. Interestingly, women migrants send back 73 percent of their income, while men send back only 65 percent," said InstaReM co-founder Prajit Nanu.

The report noted that women contribute a greater share of their income, routinely. This is contrary to the perception that when it comes to overseas money transfers, it's men who move out of their home country and send remittances to their wives and children back home.

For obvious reasons, remittances by women are spent on supporting families, households and communities.

"Even though women contribute more, the flip side is that they pay 20 percent more transaction fees than men due to smaller amounts of remittances, as per the United Nations (UN) international migration report compiled by the World Bank," said Prajit Nanu.

On a related note, InstaReM is a digital cross-border payments company licensed to operate in India, Singapore, Australia, Hong Kong, European Union, US and Malaysia. They enable individuals, SMEs and financial institutions to send across payments at the lowest possible cost and fastest possible time, to more than 50 countries worldwide.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)