Kolkata: G20 Meet on Financial Inclusion to Focus on Reducing Remittance Cost

New Delhi: The G20 leaders on Sunday discussed the high remittances cost workers outside India and efforts are underway to bring the rate down to an average of 3 per cent by 2027, a top official said. The discussion took place ahead of the first ‘Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion’ which is set to begin on Monday in Kolkata. 

Remittance can refer to any kind of monetary transfer and the costs of a remittance transaction include a fee charged by the sending agent, typically paid by the sender, and a currency-conversion fee for delivery of local currency to the beneficiary in another country.

Currently, the workers outside India have to pay around 6 percent remittance cost to send money to his or her family in India and the G20 meeting will discuss it to reduce this cost to around 3 percent by 2027. 

The 3-day meeting of the G20 leaders in Kolkata will focus on the principles of digital financial inclusion, remittance costs and SME finance availability. The event will also hold symposiums, exhibitions and a domestic outreach programme on digital financial literacy.

“The symposiums will deliberate on unlocking the digital financial inclusion infrastructure and the policy perspective,” said Chanchal Sarkar, Economic Advisor, Ministry of Finance, Department of Economic Affairs.

According to a recent World Health Organisation report, India was way ahead of countries like China and Mexico in terms of remittances. The country received 87 billion US dollars in remittances in 2021. 

Also Read: Joshimath Declared Disaster-affected Area as Cracks Sink Gateway to Badrinath