False Propaganda about India’s Remittance from Bangladesh

[Homo Sapiens]

Records from different ministries show that around 450,000 foreign nationals, mostly from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, China, Taiwan, South Korea and some European and African countries are currently working in Bangladesh.

Even if we accept this 450,000 foreign nationals working in Bangladesh, still they are not remitting 10 billion dollar. Ten billion means each of them remitting at least 22,000 dollar per person from Bangladesh after bearing his expense in Bangladesh. So his average income have to be at least 25,000 US dollar per year. Do we really have that vast number of blue-collar job available for foreigners in Bangladesh? I do not think, the total job available in BD which gives employees 25,000 dollar come close to 450,000 figure, let alone only for foreigners.

Even Indians in Dubai are not sending 22,000 dollar per year average to their home country. Although Indians in Dubai are pretty well established. Global average remittance per individual is about 2000 dollar per year. Make that double for Bangladesh's case. Still it would not be 2 billion dollar for 450,000 foreign workers in BD. We have to be realistic, not all these 450,000 foreigners are in very well paid jobs. Many are just young graduates from India, worked there for 20-25 Rupees per month or unemployed. If you offer 50,000 Taka per month job in BD, They will come without any hesitation. This is the case with majority of Indian workers in Bangladesh I believe. They are working in the mid level managerial jobs with 40k-50k Taka per months salary. Giving them 25,000 dollar per year salary is out of question. Only a few percentage of foreign workers in BD are earning 25,000 dollar or more. Not the all 450,000 of them.

So, my final assessment is that, foreigners in Bangladesh remitting maximum 2 billion dollar, 1 billion for Indians and another billion for other nationals. Ten billion is wildly exaggerated claim without backed up any credible research. 1.5-2 billion is the most realistic figure for total outbound remittance from BD.

 

[Black_cats]

Even if we accept this 450,000 foreign nationals working in Bangladesh, still they are not remitting 10 billion dollar. Ten billion means each of them remitting at least 22,000 dollar per person from Bangladesh after bearing his expense in Bangladesh. So his average income have to be at least 25,000 US dollar. Do we really have that vast number of blue-collar job available for foreigners in Bangladesh? I do not think, the total job available in BD which gives employees 25,000 dollar come close to 450,000 figure, let alone only for foreigners.

Even Indians in Dubai are not sending 22,000 dollar average to their home country. Although Indians in Dubai are pretty well established. Global average remittance per individual is about 2000 dollar. Make that double for Bangladesh's case. Still it would not be 2 billion dollar for 450,000 foreign workers in BD. We have to be realistic, not all these 450,000 foreigners are in very well paid jobs. Many are just young graduates from India, worked there for 20-25 Rupees per month or unemployed. If you offer 50,000 Taka per month job in BD, They will come without any hesitation. This is the case with majority of Indian workers in Bangladesh I believe. They are working in the mid level managerial jobs with 40k-50k per months salary. Giving them 25,000 dollar per year salary is out of question. Only a few percentage of foreign workers in BD are earning 25,000 dollar or more. Not the all 450,000 of them.

So, my final assessment is that, foreigners in Bangladesh remitting maximum 2 billion dollar, 1 billion for Indians and another billion for other nationals. Ten billion is wildly exaggerated figure without any credible research. 1.5-2 billion is the most realistic figure for total outbound remittance from BD.

It’s the top tier people who are transferring salary plus profit or money from other business they are doing.

This is not my estimation but by NBR and CPD both are more reliable mentioned it.

I will provide further reference later.

 

[Sugarcane]

On one hand you claim that there's shortage of "qualified graduates" in Bangladesh hence companies hire foreigners for middle and top tier, on other hand you claim that remittance data is false. If you have 500K expats in middle and top tier positions in Bangladesh and paying them $1,500 / Month which is quite low salary for expat than $10b figure is not exaggerated, in fact chances of it being under stated are more.

 

[HariSinghNalwa]

Everyone knew about the propaganda about being 4th largest remittance to India ,

 

[Homo Sapiens]

On one hand you claim that there's shortage of "qualified graduates" in Bangladesh hence companies hire foreigners for middle and top tier, on other hand you claim that remittance data is false. If you have 500K expats in middle and top tier positions in Bangladesh and paying them $1,500 / Month which is quite low salary for expat than $10b figure is not exaggerated, in fact chances of it being under stated are more.

We do not have 500k expat in middle and top tier position in Bangladesh. What do you think about the size of our corporate sector? Heck we do not have 500k, 1500 dollar per month paying job in whole Bangladesh. Let alone for foreigners only. Do you have any idea of what 1500 dollar can go for in Bangladesh? Such type of job are 1 in 100. Obviously, some people in Bangladesh getting 1500 dollar per month salary. But their number do not come anywhere close to 500k. And having 500k foreigners in such salaried job is out of question. Our entire corporate sector's annul turn over is unlikely to be more than 100 billion dollar. Which is reasonable for an economy size of Bangladesh. Do you think they have capability to hire foreign managers by giving them 10 billion dollar salary? Do 100 billion dollar corporate sector contain 500k top position posts to give away to the foreigners? Do you make any sense?

 

[Abu Shaleh Rumi]

Everyone knew about the propaganda about being 4th largest remittance to India ,

Like Indian air phorce shooting down Pakistani F-16?

 

[Sugarcane]

We do not have 500k expat in middle and top tier position in Bangladesh. What do you think about the size of our corporate sector? Heck we do not have 500k, 1500 dollar per month paying job in whole Bangladesh. Let alone for foreigners only. Do you have any idea of what 1500 dollar can go for in Bangladesh? Such type of job are 1 in 100. Obviously, some people in Bangladesh getting 1500 dollar per month salary. But their number do not come anywhere close to 500k. And having 500k foreigners in such salaried job is out of question. Our entire corporate sector's annul turn over is unlikely to be more than 100 billion dollar. Which is reasonable for an economy size of Bangladesh. Do you think they have capability to hire foreign managers by giving them 10 billion dollar salary? Do 100 billion dollar corporate sector contain 500k top position posts to give away to the foreigners? Do you make any sense?

It's contradictory claims of Bangladeshis which doesn't make sense, on one hand you say we are churning out more graduates then jobs, then you say companies hire foreign workers because they don't find qualified graduates, then you say we don't have much expats. And Yes, $1,500 is very much low salary for middle-top tier expats, one have to be very desperate middle/top level professional to go out of country to Bangladesh for salary $1,500 or below.

 

[Homo Sapiens]

And Yes, $1,500 is very much low salary for middle-top tier expats,

I did not say that 1500 dollar salary is very much for a top tier jobs, but my assertion was that top level jobs do not found by millions. So your multiplication of 500k top tier jobs X 1500 dollar was wrong. Perhaps Pakistan has millions of jobs which pay 1500 dollar or more per months? or are you talking about some other developed countries? in developed countries, 1500 dollar salary are pretty low level.

 

[Sugarcane]

I did not say that 1500 dollar salary is very much for a top tier jobs, but my assertion was that top level jobs do not found by millions. So your multiplication of 500k top tier jobs X 1500 dollar was wrong. Perhaps Pakistan has millions of jobs which pay 1500 dollar or more per months? or are you talking about some other developed countries? in developed countries, 1500 dollar salary are pretty low level.

$1500 package (Salary + perks) is not something uncommon for middle tier in good local companies and multinationals in Pakistan, top management get way more than that. Expats normally get more salary than what they can earn at home country otherwise why they'll leave home.

 

[fallstuff]

False Propaganda about India’s Remittance from Bangladesh
https://www.daily-sun.com/printversion/details/331504/2018/08/26/False-Propaganda-about-India%E2%80%99s-Remittance-from-Bangladesh
Md Enamul Hassan
26 August, 2018 12:00 AM
Md Enamul Hassan



India is one of the largest foreign exchange earners in the world. The country has also been recognized as the highest foreign exchange earner during the last fiscal year according to a report published in ‘The Economic Times’ and the latest report by the World Bank.

For the last few years, India has taken its position as the highest remittance earner in history. The UAE is the first among the countries that contribute to this remittance earning followed by USA, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, England, Oman, Nepal, Canada and Australia.

India earns the highest amount of remittance from these top ten countries. It is a matter of surprise that, on July 2, an unknown online magazine called ‘The Industry News’ published a baseless report on India’s remittance income from Bangladesh. This propaganda based website claimed that India has got USD 10 billion dollars remittance from Bangladesh in 2017. The matter has already gone viral on Facebook. Moreover this news is being spread in social media without verification. Many sensible citizens have shared this news. Many have already written about this; thus, my writing is a post mortem of this baseless news.


Firstly, let us focus on this online newspaper. I have never heard of any newspaper named ‘The Industry News’. This is the first time I have heard of this newspaper. Even I came to know that this newspaper is published from Bangladesh! Please inform me in case anyone has the address of this newspaper.

Now let us focus on the language of the report. There is more than one mistake in every sentence of the said report! The language is also strange! How can a newspaper unknown to the people get news from confidential sources of India's central bank! Not only that, some information has been presented in the report quoting the World Bank, the United Nations International Migration Organisation and the Central Reserve Bank of India.

The report contains a list which says, 'Bangladesh is the fourth largest remittance source of India.' It also mentions that India has earned USD 10 billion remittance from Bangladesh in 2017.

This amount was USD 832 million in 2016 and USD 450 million in 2014. However, there is no specific statement or reference of that organisation. No information was found in the Reserve Bank of India, the World Bank or IMO in this regard. The report has quoted a private development research institute named CPD. But no such statement was issued by CPD. This has not been mentioned in its website. Then where did they get this information from!

The ‘Pew Research Centre' is an organisation known to carry reliable information on remittance and migration issues. The organisation uses the World Bank's information. Therefore, any information related to remittance can be easily verified at the Pew Research Centre website. This website has information and list on incoming and outgoing remittances of India. One will not be able to believe his/her eyes after witnessing the huge difference between this list and the alleged news! The list first shows all foreign remittance from India. This shows Bangladesh’s position at the top. Bangladesh earns USD 4 billion remittance from the neighbouring country. And in the incoming remittance, the UAE comes first and Bangladesh is at the 25th place.

India earns USD 114, 000,000 remittances from Bangladesh, whereas the alleged report mentions this amount as USD 10 billion. On the other hand, Bangladesh earned USD 406 crore from India. It is to mention that Bangladesh gains the highest remittance from India. You can verify the authenticity of this information through the provided web link of Pew Research Centre (http://www.pewglobal.org/interactives/remittance-map/)1. According to the report of ‘Times of India’ carried by April 25, 2018, the main sources of India’s remittance earning are United Arab Emirates (13.8 billion), United States (11.7 billion), Saudi Arabia (11.2 billion), Kuwait (4.6 billion) and Qatar (4.1 billion). The Times of India report also mentioned that Indian citizens are also living in Bangladesh and Pakistan but its impact on remittance is not very reflective.


India also earns remittance from two other neighbouring countries – Nepal and Bhutan. Bangladesh’s position is below these two countries as a source of India’s remittance. It is also clear from this statement that this online news portal has published confusing reports regarding remittances of India.

According to the report of top Indian media, Bangladesh’s position as a source of remittances earning is at the 25th place and the total amount of money is USD 114 million, which is similar to Pew Research Centre’s report; even according to the ‘Times of India’ report, India is the 1st source where Bangladesh earns remittance and its amount is USD 4 billion which is 35 times more than incoming and outgoing remittances of India.

The highest number of remittance comes in Bangladesh from India, which is 71% of their total remittances; 4 billion out of total 5 billion; that means Bangladesh earns 35 times more than what India takes from us. The calculation of this income can be considered very naturally.

India is the largest country and many people from Bangladesh go to the neighbouring country for employment purposes. So, the total amount of this highest population’s remittance will be huge. On the other hand, Bangladesh is a small country and the people of India are not migrants to Bangladesh rather than they are migrants to the Middle East countries like United Arab Emirates, or European countries. So, it is clear that a report carried by an online media about Bangladesh regarding India’s remittance earning is absolutely baseless and deliberate.

Many are mentioning Wikipedia’s references, but Wikipedia can never be an authentic database. This is because anyone can make addition or disseminate information in Wikipedia. So if anybody wants to present Wikipedia’s information on remittance as authentic, then it should be said that there is a limitation in his knowledge of technology and information.

In addition, it is also seen that Bangladesh’s position in Wikipedia is the 25th. So it is better to provide the right information rather than misleading someone with false information. In spite of being a smaller country than India, Bangladesh has recently reached the enviable level in the world on earning remittance. Over five million Bangladeshis working abroad send remittance to the country every year. It has already been mentioned in the list of foreign remittance earning sectors.

According to the World Bank report of the year, Bangladesh is currently one of the world’s top ten remittance earning nations. I have said earlier that Bangladesh has earned the highest amount of remittance from India. But after having such a good relationship with this country, this report has been published unexpectedly and goes viral through online. There is no reason to take this blown out information as normal.

It may be mentioned that Pakistan’s on-line news portal ‘defense.pk’ run by ISI has made the biggest publicity of the false news. Pakistan based online media, IDs and some pro-Pakistan individuals were the biggest publishers of this news in the social media.

Confusion will be created among the public where the governments of Bangladesh and India and political parties of the two countries are trying hard to bring India-Bangladesh relations to a unique height. Every citizen should write against this baseless report. It should be kept in mind that no nation can strengthen its position remaining hostile to its neighbouring country.

Everyone should be aware of the individuals who are trying to strengthen their position by weakening the relationship between Bangladesh and India. On the other hand, the government should bring to book the persons who have published this report through their website.

The opportunity to gain political interest by misguiding the people through spreading false information should end forever.



The writer is the diplomatic correspondent of the daily sun.

I second this article as more closer to the fact. I saw the international remittance report.
However, there are a lot of Indians working in Bangladesh.

 

[Black_cats]

I second this article as more closer to the fact. I saw the international remittance report.
However, there are a lot of Indians working in Bangladesh.

International report only talks about money transferred via legal channel.

Pew research group includes money that send to Bangladesh for business purpose as remittance. For 2017 they put the value 4 billion USD. When same was posted for India money flow from Bangladesh due to India’s objection they removed it.

 

[Kaniska]

Yes, a lot of money going to India illegally, but 10 billion is surely a big exaggeration. There are few jobs in Bangladesh which gives 10,000 US dollar salary per annum. To reach 10 billion, it would take 1 million such lucrative job available for Indians in Dhaka, Chittagong. Which surely do not exist. It is true that, there are many Indians in Dhaka, but that figure is nowhere near 1 million. If that were the case, we would have come across 1 Indian on every 10 random person we see in the streets. But this is not the case.

Illegal money flows from both sides...So let us take that money out of our equation...But in general, 10 B USD is definitely a false news...But overall, if BD think, it is a problem for you, please do take the needful steps to stop your foreign currency to be remitted outside..

 

[Nilgiri]

When same was posted for India money flow from Bangladesh due to India’s objection they removed it.

LOL fucking liar. Pew always got their data from the UN remittance figures which is an estimate derivation given non-official remittance route use.

There was no "objection" and "removal".

This is why you BD people do so terribly everywhere. Just lie lie lie according to your feelings. Why you think your only business you can do is "Indian" restaurants? Anyone gonna enter one called bangladeshi?

 

[Black_cats]

LOL fucking liar. Pew always got their data from the UN remittance figures which is an estimate derivation given non-official remittance route use.

There was no "objection" and "removal".

This is why you BD people do so terribly everywhere. Just lie lie lie according to your feelings. Why you think your only business you can do is "Indian" restaurants? Anyone gonna enter one called bangladeshi?

So no money goes from Bangladesh to India using non official remittance routes?

Do you think Silicon India when posted the figure it just dropped from sky?

 

[Nilgiri]

So no money goes from Bangladesh to India using non official remittance routes?

I never said its no money. Just not as big as other way as far as the estimates go.

This is very different to you also saying Pew had an "earlier number" and it was "forced by India" to change it. Where is your proof on that? Pew has always literally just applied a world map to the bilateral remittance estimates by the UN. Same like other sites use maps/tables to illustrate the UN migration data estimates.

Do you think Silicon India when posted the figure it just dropped from sky?

Did they quote their original source? If not, then might as well have been.