Migration, debt, and transnational livelihood: Indian labour diasporas in the GCC states amid the pandemic

ABSTRACT

South Asian labour migration to the GCC States is a debt-financed migration in which labour diasporas mobilise resources from a variety of sources, often at exorbitant interest rates, to cover migration costs. In the event of the COVID pandemic, job losses and involuntary returns compound the problem of debt-financed migration, affecting the transnational livelihood of migrant families. This paper explores how the debt-financed migration shapes the transnational livelihood of Gulf labour diasporas amid the pandemic. Empirically, this paper draws on the experiences of 60 Gulf migrants from the Indian state of Bihar. This study reports that the families diversify their labour resources by joining Gulf labour market and migration generates remittances that provide improved livelihood for their families. Although unforeseen events such as the pandemic may delay migration episodes and thus mount the debt burden on migrants, migrants nevertheless find ways to join the Gulf labour market and erk out a trananational livelihood.

KEYWORDS:

• Migrant indebtedness
• gulf migration
• Indian diaspora
• labour migration
• transnational livelihood

Acknowledgements

Open Access funding provided by the Qatar National Library.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Ministry of External Affairs data obtained from Economic Survey of Bihar (2019–2020), published by the Finance Ministry of the Government of Bihar.

2 The average excludes the four migrant returnees whose travel was facilitated by their friends and relatives. The dollar equivalent of the amount is $846. For currency conversion, the rupee-dollar exchange rate on 25 May 2023, has been used. The exchange rate recorded on 25 May 2023, is INR 82.7164 per US Dollar.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Pranav Raj

Pranav Raj is an Assistant Professor of Economics at MIE-SPPU Institute of Higher Education, Doha, Qatar. His research interests are aligned in the area of development economics, law and economics, and intersection of crime and migration.

Md Mizanur Rahman

Md Mizanur Rahman is a Research Associate Professor at the Gulf Studies Program and Center, College of Arts and Sciences, P.O. Box: 2713, Doha, Qatar. His research interests include migration studies and Gulf studies.