KOCHI: Kerala’s decades-long tale of benefiting from international and domestic remittances has always been a one-way affair. That tale is witnessing a dramatic twist, with remittances now flying out of the state, riding the electronic platforms offered by bank branches that dot the landscape of the state.
There is one key difference, though: While inward remittances into Kerala were mostly from abroad, and particularly from the Gulf region, the outward remittances are to the other states in the country.
The situation is the result of an increasing number of migrant labourers in the state, a large majority of who are employed in unskilled jobs. Of these migrant labourers, a majority is from West Bengal, Orissa, Assam, Bihar and Jharkhand, who find the daily-wage rate in the state far more attractive than what they earn in their home states. A large number of them find jobs in the construction, manufacturing, quarrying and sand-mining sectors, where there is an acute shortage of local Keralite labour.
Banks in the state are now witnessing a niche business of domestic remittances from Kerala to other states. “We encourage them to send it through our bank. It is good business for us,” says KC Joseph, manager of the United Bank of India’s Thiruvananthapuram branch. The bank charges a minimum commission of Rs 6 per transaction for amounts up to Rs 50,000.
Being headquartered at Kolkata, UBI has the advantage of having branches in interior locations in West Bengal, Orissa and Assam. “The money transfer business through our branch is growing at around 20%,” says Mr Joseph.
Business is growing for other banks too, in domestic remittances. In Perumbavoor in central Kerala, banks like Federal Bank are attracting a good share of the fund transfer business. Perumbavoor and some of its neighbouring areas are attracting a large number of migrant workers. “As a result, some banks in the area are witnessing a 15-20% growth in money transferred to the rest of the country,” said a Federal Bank official.
The commission for cash remittance varies from bank to bank. While UBI charges Rs 6 as the basic commission, some other banks charge Rs 25 per cash transfer. For scores of migrant labourers in the state who now have the facility to send money to their families at their local bank branches, the commission appears a fair deal, say bankers.