Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the contribution of non-residential Indians increased by 12 per cent in 2022. The remittances sent to the country by overseas Indians stood at around USD 100 billion in the last year, she said.
Speaking at the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) convention in Madhya Pradesh’s Indore, she termed NRIs as the “real ambassadors of India”. She also urged them to use products and services made in India so that the country’s brands are promoted across the world.
She also said that after the “China plus one” policy, the world is now mooting “European Union (EU) plus one” policy.
The government is working hard to present India to the MNCs as a nation to look to apart from China and EU for setting up their factories, mentioned Sitharaman.
The finance minister also said that the Indian diaspora should join hands with small and big businessmen of the country in order to harness the entrepreneurial skills of NRIs during the ‘Amrit Kaal’ in the next 25 years.
She said, “I recognise that remittances, which come from abroad by Indians who migrated, are about 100 billion US dollars for the year 2022. This is one of the highest remittances which is coming. This has gone up by 12 per cent if compared to 2021.”
“Within a year which was post-pandemic, people thought Indian workers will not go back abroad again, they have not only gone back but more have gone for very useful employment and the remittance numbers have gone up by 12 pc within one year,” Sitharaman added.
The union minister pointed towards the dominance of Indians in information technology, digital technology, automobiles, semiconductor designing, pharmaceuticals and other fields, saying that India is fast becoming a global hub of knowledge and progress.
She further said, “In the Amrit Kaal of independence, an aspirational India will focus on four "I" which include infrastructure, investment, innovation and inclusion.”
