MUMBAI: Indians are spending a record amount on international travel. In June 2019 alone, spending on foreign travel amounted to $596 million — the highest since the Reserve Bank of India ( RBI ) started collating data under the liberalised remittance scheme. While overall forex spending by Indians is on the rise, expenditure on foreign trips is growing even faster, accounting for a larger share of the total spend.This year’s June travel spend accounted for 42% of the foreign purchased by Indian individuals. In the first quarter of FY19, international travel cost the country $1,594 million of the total $4,181 million in forex purchased by individuals between April and June 2019. A year ago in April-June 2018, travel was $1 billion out of a total spend of $3 billion (see graphic).The RBI categorises retail purchase of dollars under various heads, such as travel, education, purchase of property, gifts, investments and maintenance of close relatives. The second-highest category has been education.The liberalised remittance scheme was introduced in 2004, allowing Indians to spend up to $25,000 annually at that time. This limit was periodically revised and now stands at $2,50,000 per individual. Except for gambling and investing in Indian convertible bonds, the money can be used for any purpose.A year ago, for June 2018, foreign travel was $381 million out of a total spend of $1 billion, accounting for 37%. This was followed by education at 25%. While the share of education has remained constant, thanks partially to the restriction on work visas in the US and the UK, travel has grown sharply on the back of a steady rupee.According to the World Tourism Organization , the number of Indians travelling overseas in 2019 will hit 5 crores, which is nearly twice the 2.4 crores who had travelled abroad in 2017. Although this is less than 4% of the country’s population, it is sizeable in terms of spends.The RBI’s numbers show that of the $13.8 billion spent by Indians in FY19, $4.8 billion (35%) was on travel, followed by $3.6 billion (26%) on education and $2.8 billion (20%) for maintenance of close relatives. Indians also spent nearly $1.4 billion on gifts to their relatives overseas.Where overseas spending has not kept pace is on purchase of property or equity investments. Total remittances by individuals for the purchase of property abroad was less than $4 million in June 2019 compared to $7.7 million in June 2018 and $10 million in June 2017. In FY19, Indians spent only $84 million on the purchase of property abroad. These numbers are only transactions done in an individual capacity and do not include investments by high net worth individuals through a corporate route.