Indians sent enough money abroad to build 62 IITs in a decade: RTI report
By this measure, the Rs 1.76 lakh crore sent abroad in the last decade could have funded around 62 IITs, while last year's outflow alone could have paid for more than 10.A decade back, the annual outflow for education stood at just Rs 2,429 crore, the lowest in the last ten years. The highest was in 2022–23, when remittances touched Rs 29,171 crore. Overall, the outflow has surged by nearly 1200% over the decade.The information provided by the RBI was in US dollars and the figures have been converted to rupees using the current exchange rate.In 2024, the number of Indians travelling abroad for studies declined by 15% as countries worldwide tightened visa regulations. According to a reply by the Government, in the Lok Sabha in March this year, 7,59,064 students went abroad for studies in 2024, based on data from the Bureau of Immigration (BoI). This is down from 8,92,989 in 2023 but slightly higher than 2022's 7,50,365. The BoI figures track travellers who declared their purpose of visit as "Study/Education" and show that the 2024 tally was still well above the pre-pandemic level of 2019, when 5,86,337 students went abroad for education.To give another perspective, the Union government's allocation to the Department of Higher Education in 2025–26 is Rs 50,077.95 crore, up from Rs 46,482.35 crore in 2024–25 — a jump of about 8%.Yet, this is overshadowed by what Indians spend on overseas education: in the last year alone, students remitted over Rs 29,000 crore abroad for studies, and over the past decade, the total has touched Rs 1.76 lakh crore -- more than three times the government's entire annual higher education budget.In response to further queries - including the percentage share of banks versus non-bank entities such as fintech platforms in processing these remittances annually from 2014 to 2024; RBI records or estimates of average exchange rate markups or hidden charges levied by banks on education-related outward remittances; and whether any study or audit has been conducted on the losses incurred by Indian families due to such charges - the RBI replied: "The information sought is not available with the Reserve Bank of India."advertisementWhen asked about the number of education-related remittance transactions, the RBI said data prior to 2018-19 was not available. From that year onwards, the figures show a sharp rise - from 3.63 lakh transactions in 2018-19 to over 6.05 lakh in 2019-20. The number dipped slightly to 6.03 lakh in 2020–21, likely due to the pandemic, but then jumped to nearly 8 lakhs in 2021-22, crossed 9.99 lakh in 2022-23, and stood at 9.43 lakh in 2023-24.The data underscores the scale of Indians spending on overseas education and raises questions over domestic capacity and quality in higher education.- EndsMust Watch
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