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New Indian Express
an hour ago
- Business
- New Indian Express
Why Trump is weaponising remittances
According to a report by Migration Policy Institute (MPI), a Washington DC-based think tank, the Indian diaspora comprises 5.2 million US residents who were either born in India or reported Indian ancestry or origin. Of these individuals, around 55% were born in India, and the remaining 45% were born in the United States or elsewhere. India was the third largest country of origin for immigrants who obtained a green card in 2023, after Mexico and Cuba, says a tabulation by Migration Policy Institute (MPI). Of the nearly 1.2 million people receiving a green card that year, about 78,100 (7%) were from India. The MPI further estimates that around 3,75,000 (or 3%) of the 11.3 million unauthorised immigrants in the US of mid-2022 were from India, making Indians the fifth largest among all unauthorised immigrants in the US. The Indian Diaspora in the US, which is the 10th largest in the country, stands to get most adversely affected by the new remittance tax as India is one of the biggest recipients of inward remittances from the US. About 78% Indian migrants in the US are employed in high earning sectors such as management, business, science, and arts occupations. Over 54 lakh Indians are living in the US and out of this, more than 33 lakh belong to Persons of Indian Origin (PIO) category, according to Statista. India remained the top remittance recipient in 2024. India's total remittance receipts stood at $137.7 billion during 2024 (on a calendar year basis), accounting for 3.5% of India's GDP. The annual inward remittance of $138 billion is 70% higher than India's gross FDI inflow in FY25. Therefore, strong inward remittance is a handy tool for the government of India to manage the Current Account Deficit (CAD), especially amid falling net FDI inflows (Net FDI inflows fell to $0.4 billion in FY25 from $10 billion in the previous year). According to an RBI report, 28% of India's total inward remittances came from the US – making it $38 billion of money sent to India. A back-of-the-envelope calculation suggests the 3.5% levy on remittance could add $1.33 billion of tax burden on NRIs sending money back to India. However, the real impact is yet to be known. A finance ministry official this newspaper spoke to said the government is yet to make an impact analysis of the remittance tax. According to RBI's annual report, the average cost of sending remittances of $200 to India is estimated at 5.3% in the third quarter of 2024, below the global average of 6.6%. But this is going to change after 2025, thanks to the remittance tax. The measure could place added financial pressure on Indian nationals working in the United States, says Amarpal Chadha, Tax Partner and Mobility Leader, EY India. 'Many may be forced to re-evaluate their remittance patterns, including the amount and frequency of remittances for the purpose of maintenance of family or investment in India,' he says.
Time of India
4 hours ago
- Time of India
Delhi police arrest prime suspect in espionage operation involving pakistani intelligence operatives
New Delhi: The Special Cell of Delhi Police arrested the prime suspect in connection with an espionage operation involving Pakistani Intelligence Operatives (PIOs). The accused was identified as Hasin, a resident of Gangora, Deeg, Rajasthan. His brother, Kasim, was arrested earlier in this case. Confirming the arrest, Additional CP Pramod Kushwaha said that the suspect had been in contact with ISI officials for many years. He allegedly sent a SIM card to Pakistan through his brother Kasim in Aug 2024, which was later used by a PIO. Further interrogation revealed that Hasin shared photographs of sensitive army establishments with the PIO and received money in return. He also provided an OTP to activate a WhatsApp account in Pakistan. The accused were clicking pictures and noting down timings of the movement of vehicles and army personnel at Alwar military station. "In return, Hasin's ISI handlers facilitated Pakistani visas for his younger brother Kasim, his brother-in-law, and his sister during their visit to Pakistan in Aug 2024," said an officer. Hasin visited Pakistan about 15 years ago, where he has relatives, and was tapped by the ISI. Kasim, a resident of Bharatpur in Rajasthan, visited Pakistan twice in Aug 2024 and March 2025, staying for about 90 days and meeting ISI personnel. The probe revealed that three ISI officers were providing them with training at a Pak army base in Lahore, officials said. Two of them were known by their aliases, viz Shah Ji and Tauji, while the third was identified as Waqas.
Mint
14 hours ago
- Mint
How Thane-based engineer ‘spied' for Pakistan: A Facebook request, honey-trapping, sketches about warships, submarines
The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) arrested a Thane-based engineer on May 29 on charges of providing sensitive information to a Pakistani intelligence agent, who allegedly honey-trapped him on social media, officials said. The accused was identified as 27-year-old Ravindra Murlidhar Verma. According to news agency PTI, he is a resident of Kalwa in neighbouring Thane city in Maharashtra, an official said on Thursday. He was reportedly working as a junior engineer in a defence technology firm. The official said that Verma, as an employee of the defence technology company, "had access to enter the Naval Dockyard in south Mumbai and he used to work at the naval ships. Verma reportedly had been in contact with the Pakistani agent since November 2024. The official said that Verma was honey-trapped by a Pakistani agent who posed as a woman and befriended him on Facebook. According to police, he was lured into passing classified information after being honey-trapped by a Pakistani agent posing as a woman on Facebook. "He was found to have shared sensitive information about a vital installation with the 'Pakistan Intelligence Operative' (PIO) through WhatsApp from November 2024 to March 2025," the official said. According to officials, Verma had been in contact with the Pakistani agent since November 2024. They said Verma had received friend requests on Facebook from users with account names as Payal Sharma and Ispreet in 2024, which he accepted. While chatting with him, both these account users -- posing as women --initially portrayed that they were from India and worked on a project for which information about warships was required, the official said. "After a few sessions of conversations, they honey-trapped him and started digging sensitive information about vital installations," he said. Official said Verma used to share all the sensitive information with Pakistani operatives. "He was very much aware of what he was doing and to whom he was passing on the sensitive information. He was getting money in exchange for providing the information," he said. Police alleged that the Thane-based engineer shared sensitive information about warships and submarines to the Pakistani intelligence operative through sketches, diagrams and audio notes. They said that Verma received money from various bank accounts in India and abroad in return. "During the investigation, it came to light that Verma shared sensitive information knowingly and intentionally multiple times. In exchange for the information, he received money from various bank accounts from India and abroad," an official told PTI on Friday. It was also found that he had shared information about various warships and submarines to the Pakistani Intelligence Operative (PIO), another official said. The official said that Verma worked as a junior engineer with a defence technology firm and, by virtue of his work, he had access to the Naval Dockyard in south Mumbai. "He would also go on board naval ships and submarines," the official said. "During his visits to the Naval Dockyard, he was not allowed to carry a mobile phone inside. Therefore, after finishing his work there, he used to share sensitive information about warships and submarines by making sketches or diagrams. Sometimes, he would share information through audio notes also," the official added. "The ATS suspects that he also shared the names of submarines and warships to the Pakistani agent," he said. A case was registered against him and two more persons who were in contact with him, under section 3 of the Official Secrets Act that deals with espionage, and section 61 (2) (criminal conspiracy) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). According to PTI, officials of the ATS Thane unit took Verma into custody on Wednesday based on a tip-off. "After interrogation, Verma was placed under arrest for his alleged involvement in the crime," the official said. He was produced before a court, which sent him to the ATS custody till Monday. "The ATS is examining his mobile phones and gadgets used in sharing vital information through the social media platform with the PIO," the official said, adding that, "Further probe in the case was underway."
Time of India
a day ago
- Politics
- Time of India
A PIO physician treats Harvard grads to life lessons
A PIO physician treats Harvard grads to life lessons TOI correspondent from Washington: By his own account, graduates at Harvard University's convocation ceremony on Thursday deserved to hear from a star, a legend, a Nobel prize winner, or perhaps even the Pope. But tasked with delivering the commencement speech by the university's embattled president Alan Garber, currently locked in an epic battle with the Trump White House, Abraham Verghese, physician and author of Indian-origin, proceeded to dissect MAGA-infused USA with the precision of a surgeon, although he is an infectious disease specialist. "When legal immigrants and others who are lawfully in this country including so many of your international students worry about being wrongly detained and even deported, perhaps it's fitting that you hear from an immigrant like me," Dr Verghese told the graduating class, recalling a journey that brought him to America from Ethiopia, where he was born, via India, from where his parents hailed and from where he obtained his MBBS (from Madras Medical College). He recalled that both countries went through authoritarian rule, and the journey had led him to an appreciation of American values that were now under siege. Without once mentioning the US President's name or MAGA, Abraham told the largely anti-Trump assembly that a cascade of draconian government measures had already led to uncertainty, pain, and suffering in America and across the globe—and more has been threatened. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Dermatologista recomenda: simples truque elimina o fungo facilmente Acabe com o Fungo Undo "The outrage you must feel, the outrage so many feel, also must surely lead us to a new appreciation. Appreciation for the rule of law and due process, which till now we took for granted—because this is America after all! And appreciation for those committed to truth—veritas--at a time when the absence of truth has come to feel almost normal," he said to applause. Author of acclaimed novels going back to his 1994 debut with My Own Country: A Doctor's Story, about his experience with the onset of AIDS in America, Verghese said a part of what makes America great is that "it allows an immigrant like me to blossom here, just as generations of other immigrants--and their children--have flourished and contributed in every walk of life, working to keep America great." America also allowed this immigrant to find his voice as a writer, he said, citing the novelist E.L. Doctorow, who wrote, 'It is the immigrant hordes who keep this country alive, the waves of them arriving year after year. Who believes in America more than the people who run down the gangplank and kiss the ground?' The new grads tittered at the many subtle digs Verghese took at the White House occupant, including referring to "the trait of reading fiction in some of the best physicians and leaders I have met, including your President, I mean your university's if you don't read fiction, my considered medical opinion is that a part of your brain responsible for active imagination atrophies." He also referred to courage of the AIDS-afflicted he had treated, and in an oblique dig at MAGA told the graduating class "They taught me about manhood—not the caricature of manliness, not the posturing that has become so fashionable lately—but the manliness that allowed them to be compassionate, generous, and steadfast even in the depths of their suffering."
Hindustan Times
2 days ago
- Hindustan Times
ATS arrests Thane resident for sharing confidential information to Pakistani operative
MUMBAI: The Maharashtra anti-terrorism squad (ATS) arrested a 27-year-old man allegedly sharing vital information about several important government establishments in India with a Pakistani intelligence operative (PIO) through WhatsApp between November 2024 and March 2025. The police also booked three of his accomplices who have not yet been identified. According to the police Ravi Verma, a resident of Kalwa, worked at a private firm in Navi Mumbai that provides maintenance services to government defence companies. His interrogation revealed that he had met the PIO through Facebook in November 2024, and then shared confidential information through WhatsApp for about five months. The ATS has registered a case against Verma and two of his accomplices under sections 3(1)(b) (making a sketch, plan, model, or note, calculated to be useful to the enemy) and 5(a) (wrongful communication of secret information) of the Official Secrets Act, 1923 and section 61(2) (criminal conspiracy) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023.
