Indore: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday underscored the contribution of the Non-Resident Indians while stating that the inward remittances for the year 2022 increased by 12 percent to about USD 100 billion, said media reports.

Sitharaman lauded the overseas Indians and called them the “real ambassadors of India as she addressed them at a session in Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) in Madhya Pradesh's Indore city.

She urged them to use more and more “Made in India” products to promote India as a brand on the global front.

The minister said that the government was presenting India as the world’s manufacturing hub and after the “China plus one” policy, the world is now talking about the “European Union plus one” policy.

She said the Indian Diaspora should collaborate with small and big businesses in India so that their entrepreneurial know-how can be harnessed by the country during the 25 years or Amrit Kal of Independence.

India is moving at a phenomenal pace towards becoming a global hub of knowledge and progress owing to the top-notch Indian professionals in information technology, digital technology, automobiles, semiconductor designing, pharmaceutical manufacturing and other fields, she emphasised.