Travel

Outward remittances under the RBI's liberalised remittances scheme, or LRS, contracted 17.7 per cent year-on-year in August 2025 at $2.6 billion due to a decline in international travel and overseas education amidst visa restrictions by the United States.

The outward remittances under the scheme, according to RBI data released in the monthly bulletin, stood at $3.21 billion during August 2024.

In 2004, the LRS scheme was implemented which enabled all resident individuals to remit up to $250,000 per financial year for any permissible current or capital account transactions or a combination of both without any charges.

It came with a 25,000-dollar limit in its initial phase, which was revised with time.

The outflows towards international travel — the largest segment — declined 19.6 per cent y-o-y to $1.62 billion.

The outflow for overseas education was down 23.4 per cent Y-o-Y during the month to $319.17 million. This compares with $416.4 million in August 2024.

Remittances under medical treatment contracted 47.84 per cent YoY to $3.9 million, and the funds for maintenance of close relatives slipped 13.74 per cent to $272.05 million. Funds remitted under the ‘others’ segment fell almost 67 per cent to $6.7 million. Remittances under the ‘Gift’ category fell by almost 22.09 per cent to $190.43 million. In addition, remittances under deposits were down by 6.2 per cent to $42.75 million. On the other hand, purchase of immovable property was up 60.2 per cent at $36.02 million, while investment in equity or debt rose 21.45 per cent to $152.2 million. The decline in remittances under the scheme has widened in April-August of FY26, while the overall remittances fell by 6.5 per cent to $12.02 billion in the review period. This is amidst an across-the-board decline in remittances, barring investment purposes such as deposits, purchase of immovable property and investment in equity or debt.

This was the first-ever workshop in Mumbai by the SITE India Chapter, held at the Jio Convention Centre, Bandra Kurla Complex. The event had top professionals in the incentives, events, and hospitality sectors coming together. The interactive session discussed new ideas, innovative concepts, and strategies that are the way ahead in the realms of incentive travel as this industry gears up for 2026 and beyond.

Opening the event, Rohit Chopra, Secretary, SITE India, enlightened on the challenges in the ongoing geopolitical environment, where global sanctions, wars, unrest, taxation and growing intolerance are factors damaging travel, and incentive travel stakeholders need to diversify to their portfolio to stay relevant in the business.

Fiona DK Smith, Senior Manager India, Dubai Business Events spoke about the prospects of hosting incentive groups in Dubai amidst its various conference facilities, accommodation options, etc. Rakesh Sawant, Director, Global Sales – India, Minor Hotels spoke about the expansion of the hotel group across the globe and enumerated on the various brands from the hotel group.

Sabbas Joseph, Co-Founder/Director, Wizcraft, who is also associated with the Joint Working Group on Tourism, spoke about the Ministry of Tourism's efforts to make India a global venue for meetings and events, citing the hosting of G20 Summit and discussions on World Economic Forum to get business relations.

In fact, the workshop was a platform for effective networking among a select group of attendees. Supported by Dubai Business Events and Minor Hotels, the session marked an important milestone in SITE India's effort to engage regional markets and promote professionalization of incentive travel in the country.

Karnataka is fast becoming one of the most popular medical tourism destinations in India, with patients all over the world coming in to obtain high-quality yet inexpensive healthcare. Having a well established network of healthcare facilities, qualified medical practitioners, and favorable government support, the state stands to greatly reap the fruit of the growing healthcare travel industry.

The Rising Indian Medical Tourism and increasing role of Karnataka.

The Ministry of Tourism reported that India received more than 1.31 lakh foreign medical tourists between January and April 2025, comprising 4.1% of all foreign tourists in the period. Medical tourism is on the rise in the country due to the availability of advanced medical technology, specially trained doctors, low costs of treatment and short waiting times.

In this context, Karnataka, which hosts major medical hubs such as Bengaluru and Mysuru is getting prominence. Bengaluru in particular is distinguished with the highest number of medical centers and facilities like Sakra Premium Clinic, which specializes in fertility care and has begun to grow by building new quaternary care hospitals like SPARSH Hospitals. Karnataka has a a vast network of allopathic and AYUSH practitioners, enhancing the state’s appeal to holistic and integrative health services.

Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences: A Medical Education Pillar

Dr BC Bhagwan, the Vice-Chancellor of Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS) highlighted the role of Karnataka in the development of the health sector in India. RGUHS which began with only 153 institutions in 1996, now manages up to 1,500 medical colleges and up to 3 lakh students, employing 14,000 faculty. With its large pool of skilled healthcare professionals, Karnataka is growing its medical tourism industry by generating continuous healthcare innovations and potential.

Addressing Health and Lifestyle Challenges in Youth 

Karnataka is a healthcare and tourism hub that is also paying attention to preventative health. Dr Bhagwan pointed out dangerous tendencies, including rising levels of hypertension in young people (14%) and substance addiction in as many as 40% of students surveyed in Bengaluru. Intervention in lifestyle diseases via teaching, yoga, nutrition, and pollution are also essential to maintain the progress of the health system.

International Connectivity and Government Initiatives

The government and state governments of India have taken essential steps to promote the growth of medical tourism, such as e-medical visas granted to citizens of 171 countries, hospital upgrades through a mix of government and business alliances, as well as medical tourism branding under the slogan of Heal in India.

The Karnataka government projects facilitate wellness tourism in combination with medical treatment and wellness resorts and Ayurveda centers that are located all over the world and provide alternative medicines. The overall patient experience is also improved through improved transport and hospitality services in the state.

Strategic Advantage of Karnataka in Healthcare Infrastructure

The state is endowed with a high population of medical institutions with both, government and privately owned hospitals with state-of-the-art technology and international standards. The number of healthcare professionals per population is gradually increasing, and attempts are being made to equalize the urban-rural imbalance by making medical graduates mandatory to serve in rural areas and integrating traditional medicine practitioners into government healthcare.

Economic and Educational Impact

Medical tourism directly increases the economy of Karnataka by creating job opportunities in hospitals, tourism, hospitality industry and other related industries. This is supported by educational institutions, healthcare training programs such as the Creative Education Foundation and other institutions known to produce gold-medalist professionals.

Karnataka is on the verge of a long-term expansion because of the increased demand of cosmetic surgery, fertility treatments, cancer care, and minimally invasive procedures. Its competitive advantage is augmented by developments in robotic surgery and stem cell treatments. The state is also the destination of medical tourists seeking wellness packages that blend Ayurveda with modern medicine.

The rise of Karnataka as a medical tourism hub represents an effective combination of quality health care, education, government intervention and wellness practices. It promises a brighter future to international patients to get affordable and world-class treatment and also meet the health needs of its increasing population. This industry not only improves the international health image of India but also helps in improving the socio-economic status of the state of Karnataka and its citizens.

Traveling through Europe is glamorous, expensive, and normally out of one's league—but not necessarily. For IIT alumna Kanak Agrawal, making the journey to four European countries for over a month cost her an iPhone. Her key: a resourceful, creative, and adventurous spirit to take risks or two beyond the comfort zone. Kanak's story verifies that one doesn't need to blow expensive budgets on adventures—meaning that smart planning, engaging with individuals locally, and living experiences over agendas is the way to proceed.

In 2017, having quit her job, Kanak traveled alone to Euro with a paltry sum of money. She visited the Netherlands, France, Prague, and Budapest in 35 days for a mere INR 1 lakh—inclusive of flights. It wasn't about saving money; it was about experiencing the people, culture, and food at each place in a real sense.

Volunteering

Kanak volunteered with an eco-village in the Netherlands, where she had food and accommodations taken care of for two weeks. "I didn't want to be a 'tourist' ticking things off a list," she said. Living in daily life, she was able to get around the countryside around Amsterdam for free, offering her time.

Couchsurfing

She then moved to couchsurfing and lived with locals in the Netherlands and Prague. She not only saved money but also met wonderful people who toured her around and who remain her friends for life.

Spontaneity and old friendships

Just 20 days before leaving Netherlands, she quickly booked a bus, and her friend happily hosted her. "Even if you’re planning everything, it’s always a good idea to visit an old friend in a new country, " she said.

Cheaper destinations

She also deliberately chose lower-cost regions. Budapest and Prague offered historic depth at non-European prices. Prague was an added 4-day extension from Paris to Budapest, so it made it stretch her dollars without giving up experiences.

Kanak quotes that her experience was a learning curve in flexibility and courage. She had no pre-formatted plans or pre-formatted itinerary—she started small, stayed normal, and let things occur naturally.

We all wish to live a city like a native. For IIT-Kanpur graduate Kanak Agrawal, it was also about connecting. Taking a risk that few of us would ever do, she abandoned hotels and hostels and lived with complete strangers—people whom she had only known over the web. What ensued was not just a frugal tip, but a journey that changed the way she looked at travel, trust, and human beings.

On Instagram, Kanak posted that she was during the summer of 2017 when she had quit her job and was on a month-long budget tour in Europe. During her travels, she had chanced upon Couchsurfing—where locals offer free accommodation to travelers. One woman she had met in Amsterdam had told her about it, and she went and joined, sending out a few requests. That was a lone action, she said, that turned everything around.

Before long, she was bedding down with strangers in Prague, Amsterdam, and Utrecht. They shared meals, toured the city, and exchanged stories she remembers clearly today. "Couchsurfing wasn't so much about being cheap. It was about connection," she said.

Then, the concept wasn't popular in India. But Kanak went ahead and experimented with it—and was pleasantly surprised to find hosts available in almost all the cities. Even when she moved to Mysore recently, she skipped the hotel and couchsurfed again. "I stayed with Bala for 4 days until I found a place to rent.".

He was like a friend in a new town. No sooner had she moved into her new place than she invited him in for supper. That humble supper was housewarming. "No big party. Just a homey supper with someone who made a new city feel a little bit like home."

In her blog, Kanak left readers wondering about a problem clearly puts individuals out of their comfort zones: "Would you dare to try this?"

Internet reacts

Comments were filled with a mix of emotions: excitement, questioning, and even anxiety. Someone commented that they'd been a member for 20+ years, and someone else mentioned their first couchsurfing trip in Indonesia and said they'd been so moved by the kindness of strangers that they hoped one day they'd be able to describe to Kanak how it had changed them.

Someone else admitted to being scared to do so but was urged to try it on their next trip. Another user asked a very pointed safety question about traveling as a woman in India.

Kanak responded she has always had a good experience and reiterated the necessity of carefully reading host reviews and communicating beforehand before making a booking. Another reader concurred with her response, further mentioning that the comments on the platform cannot be deleted or altered, hence it is even harder to fake or cover up obnoxious comments.

Some of the greatest lessons in history didn’t stay in classrooms but walked across mountains. Mentioned in “The Record of the Buddhist Monasteries in Luoyang,” Bodhidharma did not travel but spread the message of peace and ahimsa across the globe, mostly in China. His journey wasn’t just physical; it carried ideas that changed cultures.  

The origin of the monk’s story remains a mystery to date. Contemporaries of Bodhidharma wrote two known extant accounts. According to these sources, Bodhidharma came from the Western Regions, and is described as either a "Persian Central Asian" or a "South Indian, the third son of a great Indian king." Later sources draw on these two sources, adding additional details, including a change to being descended from a Brahmin king, which accords with the reign of the Pallavas, who "claimed to belong to a brahmin lineage." Bodhidharma was the one who traveled the sea/land route to China, intending to spread Mahayana Buddhism across the country. 

His contributions to the development of present-day Buddhism in China are unparalleled. He introduced Zen(Chan) Buddhism and popularized its concept across the land in the 5th or 6th century. Zen, in Bodhidharma's view, is not about intellectual study or reliance on scriptures, but about direct experience and seeing one's nature. His teachings included meditative practices rooted in discipline. He was connected with the Shaolin Temple, legendary for Chan psychology and martial arts. 

The account of Bodhidharma in the Luoyan Record does not particularly associate him with meditation, but rather depicts him as a thaumaturge. Thaumaturge, especially in Christianity, is the art of performing prodigies or miracles. More generically, it refers to the practical application of magic to effect change in the physical world. Historically, thaumaturgy has been associated with a supernatural or divine ability, the manipulation of natural forces, the creation of wonders, and the performance of magical feats through esoteric knowledge and ritual practice.

Just like the quote that says- “Wisdom knows no national boundary”, his journey shows how one person’s knowledge can reshape an entire civilization. 

What students can learn from his journey is that learning itself is not limited to geography. Ideas become richer when they travel and evolve across cultures. One should always be open to knowledge from unexpected places. 

A student needs to be Bodhidharma because their minds are curious, mobile, and open to cross-cultural learning. This would not only help sharpen the minds but also gain confidence. It is very important for one to be Bodhidharma in this time because “After all, the greatest minds never stayed in one place for too long.”

By Jishnu Mukherjee