Travel, education drag outward remittances under RBI's LRS in August

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.