All for a Foreign Degree

Over the last fiscal year (2015-16), there has been a sharp increase in the outflow of capital from India. Outward remittances tripled to $4 billion till February 2016.

According to an expert, "Higher limits for outward remittances, stronger domestic economy and also more and more students seeking education abroad could have contributed to the rise in these remittances".

Speculation moved to more solid ground when Amitabh Kant, a senior bureaucrat, tweeted:

Under RBI's Liberalized Remittance Scheme (LRS) 2015-16 has seen Indians spent $362 million on traveling, $875 million in maintenance of close relatives and $782 million on studies abroad, taking the total spending to $3.02 billion. Gifts amounted to $398.88 million in the period

So where are out students headed? According to the latest UNESCO reports, 300,000 students from India go to study abroad every year. A majority of them (56%) head to USA while UK and Australia attract ~ 15% each. The rest go to places where “education is considerably cheaper and part-time jobs are easier to secure.” This included Canada, Ireland, Scandinavian countries, Germany and Italy.

It seems Indian students have not yet started following the "Look East" policy. USA, Australia and Europe seems to be the first priority for full-fee students with a trickle of mostly scholarship-funded ones going to Singapore, Malaysia, Japan and China.

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REFERENCES & LINKS

* (ET - 1Apr16) - Outward remittances triple to $4 billion till February' 16 -  http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2016-04-01/news/71977532_1_remittances-sujan-hajra-kiran-shetty

* BS - http://www.business-standard.com/article/finance/huge-outward-remittances-a-recent-phenomenon-116040400928_1.html

* Mathew, George (FE 21Apr2016) -  - http://www.financialexpress.com/article/industry/banking-finance/200-increase-in-outward-remittances/239136

* (ET-2015) - http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2015-08-28/wealth/65969493_1_north-india-credila-students

* ICEF Monitor (2012) - http://monitor.icef.com/2012/11/number-of-indian-students-heading-abroad-up-300-over-past-decade/

* An excellent blogpost on life at NUS Singapore - https://mohitagraw.al/2010/05/08/study-abroad-in-singapore-my-experience-and-advice/

* IIE - Project Atlas (2010) - http://www.iie.org/Services/Project-Atlas/India/Indias-Students-Overseas#.Vx3UknqDzIU

* MyCollegesAbroad - http://www.mycollegesabroad.com/country/singapore/cost-of-study/

* HotCoursesIndia - http://www.hotcoursesabroad.com/india/why-study-abroad/all-about-studying-abroad/how-many-indian-students-go-abroad-to-study/

* IDP Education - https://www.idp.com/india/studyabroad/whytostudyabroad