TL;DR Outward remittances under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS) have risen sharply over the past decade, driven largely by international travel, overseas education, and global investments. While remittance outflows reached record levels after the pandemic, recent trends show moderation in categories such as studies abroad and gifts, alongside rising overseas investment activity.

 Context

Introduced by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS) allows resident Indians to remit up to USD 250,000 per financial year for permitted overseas transactions, including education, travel, medical treatment, investments, gifts, and maintenance of relatives abroad. Over the years, the scheme has become an important channel for outward financial flows from India, particularly as overseas education and international travel have grown steadily among Indian residents.

In recent years, outward remittances under LRS have remained in focus due to rising remittance volumes and changes in Tax Collected at Source (TCS) provisions on certain overseas expenditures. The scheme has also gained attention in discussions around foreign exchange outflows and cross-border spending by Indian households. Examining trends in remittances under LRS helps understand how spending across different overseas purposes has changed over time.

Who compiled this data?
The data on outward remittances under the LRS is compiled and published by the Reserve Bank of India. The RBI collects this information from Authorised Dealer (AD) banks, which report remittance transactions made by resident individuals under the scheme.

Where can I download clean & structured data related to this?

Clean, standardised, structured, and ready-to-use datasets related to remittances are available on Dataful. The dataset, Year- and Month-wise Value of Outward Remittance Transfers made by Resident Indians under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS), is updated on a monthly basis.

Key Insights

• Outward remittances under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS) remained relatively modest until 2014-15 but rose sharply from 2015-16 onwards. This coincided with the RBI’s increase in the annual LRS limit to USD 250,000 and with growing overseas spending on travel, education, and investments.

• Remittances fell from USD 18.76 billion in 2019-20 to USD 12.68 billion in 2020-21 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but recovered strongly in subsequent years, reaching a record high of USD 31.74 billion in 2023-24. Although outward remittances remained high in 2024-25 and 2025-26 (up to February), the pace of growth slowed compared to the sharp post-pandemic rise observed between 2021-22 and 2023-24.

• The post-pandemic surge in outward remittances was driven primarily by travel. Travel-related remittances more than doubled from USD 6.9 billion in 2021-22 to around USD 17 billion by 2023-24, remaining at similar levels in 2024-25. The sharp rise likely reflects the reopening of international tourism and deferred overseas travel after COVID-19 restrictions. Travel alone accounted for over 58% of total outward remittances in 2025-26 (up to February).

• Remittances for studies abroad and gifts moderated after strong post-pandemic growth. Education-related remittances declined from a peak of USD 5.17 billion in 2021-22 to USD 2.92 billion in 2024-25, with its share in total remittances falling from over 26% to below 10%. Gift-related remittances also declined in 2024-25 after rising sharply in earlier years, with its share dropping below 10%.

• In contrast to discretionary categories such as travel, remittances towards the maintenance of close relatives remained relatively stable across years. Despite economic uncertainty and pandemic-related disruptions, transfers under this category have stayed above USD 3 billion annually since 2021-22.

• Investment-linked remittances showed strong growth in recent years. Remittances towards overseas equity and debt instruments rose from USD 472 million in 2020-21 to over USD 2.2 billion in 2025-26 (up to February), while remittances for the purchase of immovable property nearly doubled from USD 242.51 million in 2023-24 to USD 490.01 million during the same period. In contrast, remittances classified as deposits declined after peaking in 2022-23. Together, these trends may indicate a shift from holding funds abroad as deposits towards direct investments in overseas financial assets and real estate.

Why does it matter?

In February 2026 alone, outward remittances stood at USD 2.34 billion, up by more than 19% compared to USD 1.96 billion in February 2025. Travel continued to dominate monthly outflows, accounting for about USD 1.31 billion, over 55% of total remittances during the month.

Against the backdrop of elevated crude oil prices and geopolitical uncertainty in West Asia, Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently urged citizens to avoid non-essential foreign travel, postpone overseas destination weddings, and reduce gold purchases to help ease pressure on foreign exchange outflows. Given the large share of discretionary spending categories, such as travel, in overall remittances, any sustained moderation in overseas spending or tightening of regulatory measures could influence future LRS outflows.

Key Numbers

• USD 31.7 bn – Highest LRS outflows (2023-24)

• 58%+ – Share of travel in total remittances (2025-26*)

• USD 17 bn – Travel remittances (2024-25)

• 26% → <10% – Share of studies abroad related remittances (2019-20 →2025-26)

• USD 431 mn → USD 2.2 bn – Overseas equity/debt investments (2019-20 →2024-25)