ABSTRACT
Globally, there were 244 million international migrations in 2015; it rose from 173 million in 2000 to 222 million in 2010, respectively. Out of the 244 million migrants, about 104 million (43%) were born in Asia1 and another 62 million (25%) migrants in Europe (United Nations, 2015). In other words, two out of five international migrants originate from Asia. The geography of migration flow is changing, in line with changes in the global economy. A much wider range of cities around the world have now become preferred destinations for migrants (International Organisation of Migration, 2015). South Asia is emerging as a migration hub of the world, because the percentage of total South Asian2 migration to international migrant stock was 13.33 per cent in 2005, and increased to 15.13 per cent in 2015 (United Nations, 2015). Majority of the South Asian migrants end up in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) for employment. Though South Asia-Gulf migration corridor is one of the largest in the world, this corridor is under-researched (Irudaya Rajan, 2016). The estimated annual outflow of migrant workers from five3 major South Asian labour-sending countries accounted for 2.5 million, and among them India registered the largest (International Labour Organisation, 2015). South Asian migration contribution through remittances to their economy could not be underestimated. For instance, in 2014, the global inflow of remittance reached USD 591 billion and South Asia received USD 115 billion or 20 per cent (World Bank, 2015) of it.
