‘eMigrate System’ Turns to be nightmare for India’s Overseas Workers

by admin | May 25, 2021 | Business, Employment, Overseas

File Photo (Maeeshat)

By Asif Nawaz for Maeeshat

More Slump in India’s share of Jobs in the Gulf witnessed in First half of the Current Years

The relationship between India and the Gulf countries is historically very old and warm. As the both are becoming aware of each other’s capabilities and realizing the importance of each other’s region for their mutual interest, these relationships is getting stronger day by day. Trade and commerce is the most important pillar of the relationship between India and these countries. A glimpse of the strong cultural and economic ties between them can be perceived from the fact that on one hand, around 50 percent of India’s oil consumption is imported from these Gulf countries, and on the other hand, Indian citizens have emerged as the largest migrant community in the Arabian Peninsula.

According to the Ministry of External Affairs’ website, by December 2016, more than 1.3 crore Indian nationals are living in different countries around the world as Non-Resident Indians (NRIs). Among them, the number of Indian citizens in the Gulf countries is more than 84 lakhs. See the table below to know the number of Indian nationals in all six Gulf countries.

Out of these 1.3 crore NRIs, around 65 percent are only in these six GCC countries. And especially in the last ten years, their numbers have increased rapidly. As a result, the inflow of foreign exchange and remittance from these nations to India have also increased substantially.

The Ministry of External Affairs also says that according to the World Bank statistics, in recent years, India has received around $ 70 billion in remittance from Indians across the globe. This is the highest amount of remittance received by any country in the world from its emigrant citizens in a period of one year. This amount contributes about 4 percent to India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which is almost three times more than that of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) to India. Therefore, we can easily understand the significance of this $ 70 billion remittance in India’s economy. Out of this $ 70 billion, approximately 52 percent came from GCC countries in 2015, among them, UAE and Saudi Arabia have the biggest share of 35 and 30 percent respectively.

In 2015, the remittance sent by Indians from Gulf countries as follows:

However, as per the data released by the World Bank in April 2017, the inflow of foreign exchange remittances to India has witnessed a downfall of 8.9% in 2016, reducing to USD 62.7 billion from USD 69 billion due to various factors which will be discussed in the following passages.

In the last 10 years (barring 2016), India has deployed an average of 7.5 lakh semi-skilled and unskilled workers in the Gulf countries for employment. This data is available on the Overseas Employment Division’s website www.emigrate.gov.in.

However, some new phenomena that emerged vis-à-vis in last two to three year in India’s policy makers’ side, have deeply affected Indian workers going into the Gulf workforce, and their strength in the region dwindled significantly. And surprisingly, India’s share of jobs in the Gulf has been diverted to Pakistan and Bangladesh. See the chart below:

When we compare the combined shares of these three countries, we find that in 2013 India’s share reached up to 57 percent as shown in the chart. But since then, India is facing a constant decline and in 2016 it dipped down to merely 27 percent, and in 2017 it is merely 22 percent. See the following table to comprehend more precisely the loss that has been inflicted on Indian workers:

In 2013 (just before introduction of two new regulations in India’s emigration clearance procedure), India deployed 7,88,424 (57%)workers in all six GCC countries, and in the same year, Pakistan and Bangladesh deployed 3,39,748 (25%) and 2,43,668 (18%) workers respectively. But, within 3 years, in 2016 a surprised change occurred in their shares. India’s share went down to merely 5,07,296 (27%) and Pakistan and Bangladesh’s share went up to 8,22,032 (43%) and 5,72,028 (30) respectively.

The trend of inflow of migrant workers in GCC countries in the first six months of this year, shows that in 2017 India can hardly manage to deploy around 4 lakhs workers in the Gulf because up to June 2017, India could only send merely 1,94,615 (21.6) to the gulf nations. This will be again a downfall of more than one lakh in comparison with the previous year of 2016, and in comparison with 2013, it will be a complete fifty percent slump. Also, observe the number of Pakistani and Bangladeshi workers, how much it has shot up in these months. Both the nations have reached 2,55,230 (28.4%) and 4,49,260 (50%) respectively. So, the present scenario indicates that with this pace each of them will attain the target of something between 5 to 9 lakhs in 2017.

Along with semi-skilled and unskilled workers, a large number of skilled and professional Indians also join the Gulf workforce every year. But the data of such employees is not available on the India’s Foreign Ministry’s website. So, it is not feasible to find out whether the downfall is also reflected in the strength of such Indian workers going into Gulf or not.

On July 20, 2017, replaying to a question raised by Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament Javed Ali Khan on the declining situation of our jobs in the Gulf, Minister of State in the Ministry of External Affairs Gen. V. K. Singh said:

“There has been a decline in the number of Indian workers emigrating to the gulf countries for employment due to economic slowdown in GCC countries triggered by the weak oil prices, which has resulted in lack of demand for workers. However, it has been reported by the Indian Missions that by undertaking different fiscal measures, these countries have been able to cope with the depressed oil and gas prices.”

It is a positive sign from the Government side that it has taken this matter in its cognizance.    Now for the first, the Minister has conceded that there is a decline in the number of Indian workers emigrating to the Gulf countries. However, the reason that he has cited in his reply is not well-studied. If the economic slowdown in GCC nations due to the weak oil prices is the sole reason for this decline, then how and why Pakistan and Bangladesh Managed to keep their share of job in the Gulf intact and how Bangladesh has gone far away in making it share almost double in the same period of time?

Accepting the Government’s logic behind this decline that this is happening because of low oil prices and economic slowdown in the Gulf region, will be a clear eye-wash from the reality and an injustice to the welfare of prospective Indian overseas workers. It is explicitly visible from the data shown in the table above, that in total there is not any ostensible decline in the number of workers deployed from these three countries (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh) into the Gulf workforce. The data further shows that the deployment from India has reduced and almost the same numbers have increased for Bangladesh & Pakistan. Therefore, the above data clearly implies that the loss of opportunities for Indian workers has resulted in gain for other labor sending countries.

This decline is not reflected in our share of jobs only because of economic slowdown in the Gulf, otherwise other labor exporting countries would also have face such decline in this period.   The reasons cited by the Minister have also played a minor role in the decline, however the ostensible huge decline especially in our share is mainly due to two factors that I have already discussed in my previous article;

• Minimum Referral Wages fixed by the government of India to regulate the wages of Indian migrant workers employed in different occupations in countries falling under the category of “emigration check required” (ECR). The major rationale for putting this concept, as stated by the Ministry of External Affairs, is “to ensure that an Indian [migrant] worker is not put to a disadvantageous position by the [foreign employer] by unilaterally fixing wages, which might be much less than the prevailing wages in the host country as well as in India”. Among other origin countries like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, that send the workers to the Gulf region, India’s referral wages are the highest as cited by International Labor Organization (ILO) in a study named ‘MINIMUM REFERRAL WAGES FOR INTERNATIONAL MIGRANT WORKERS FROM INDIA: AN ASSESSMENT’ (S K Sasikumar and Seeta Sharma, September 2016). Therefore, from the day one, this regulation was criticized and had met bitter resistance by foreign employers in all GCC countries. Some countries at that time had threatened to reduce their Indian workforces and hire more, lower-paid workers from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Nepal instead. After this discussion, we are now well-positioned to judge that what is the role of this hike in minimum referral wages in reducing Indian migrant workers to the Gulf region.
• eMigrate lengthy procedure. In May 2015, the government of India introduced a unique computerized system called “e-Migrate” To regulate overseas employment especially for protection of less educated blue collar workers as a measure to ensure protection against possible exploitation of the Indian workers by their employers. This project which was actually aimed to protect Indian laborers from frauds and to ensure minimum wages to them, has not worked in their favor, as foreign employers have switched over to hiring laborers from Bangladesh and Pakistan. Because, The Gulf-based employers are not quite tech-savvy, and they are generally known for not having much awareness about modern technology especially computers to fulfill such burdensome formalities and emigration processes. Because, the new system requires all the foreign employers to register in the eMigrate system. This made compulsory for the entire foreign employers of Indian blue collar workers to fill in a registration application which is then vetted by the respective Indian mission. Now by using only this system, any foreign employer can raise the demand for Indian blue collar workers and seek a permit to recruit Indians in online manner.

So, the hike in Minimum Referral Wages, and the complexities and technical faults in the eMigrate system which led to expiration of a big number of visas annoyed overmuch the foreign employers, and finally many of them made their mind to give the India’s share of Gulf employment to some other countries like Pakistan and Bangladesh. Since then, we have lost around 50 percent jobs in the Gulf workforce which was by and large fetched by our neighboring countries Pakistan and Bangladesh.

It is brought to my notice from many stakeholders of this nationally important cause that in their views also, the main and the clear reason for the apparent decline particularly in our overseas employment, is the complications in the newly introduced eMigrate system and regulations therein, dissatisfaction and non-acceptance of foreign employers to comply with the same. This is the main reason that is continuously affecting India’s share of jobs in the Gulf since May 2015 when eMigrate was introduced and implemented. And subsequently Pakistan and Bangladesh emerged as the main beneficiaries of this situation, which can be clearly observed from the above table.

Maeeshat Magazine Cover Page (July-August 2017)

Keeping in mind the importance of India’s relation with the Gulf countries, acceptance and higher demand of Indian workers in the Gulf, burgeoning India’s population and all-time increase in India’s unemployment rate, Indeed, it is need of the hour that the Indian government and its institutions concerned with the emigration related affair should look into the matter and in the larger interest of the nation and its job seekers’ community, they may kindly ask the concerned department to remove the provision of foreign employers (FEs) registration from the eMigrate system and make the minimum wages (MRWs) realistic. It is also high time for the Government of India to take the necessary steps to increase the quantity and quality of Indian workers, so that the youth unemployment rate may be curtailed and the influx of foreign exchange remittances can be increased which according the World Bank report, has dipped down by 8.9% in 2016 from USD 70 billion to 62.7 billion as compared to the precious year. Though the foreign exchange remittance to India is facing a slight decline in last two consecutive years, but it is still nearly 20 million more than FDI received by India in 2016. This is also a reminder which fetches Government’s attention that it should not exercise all its efforts on bringing in foreign investment, rather it ought to equally focus on its emigrant and diaspora community which is continuously sending home huge amount of money that shores up India’s foreign reserves.