Migration Between Indian States

How millions of workers move between Indian states for jobs, the patterns of migration, and the challenges migrants face in accessing services.

Every year, millions of Indians move from one state to another for work. Interstate migration links poorer and richer regions and shapes both.

Patterns

The Economic Survey of 2016 to 2017 estimated, using railway travel data, that around 9 million people migrated between states each year between 2011 and 2016, much higher than earlier estimates. Major patterns include:

Out-migration from states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Rajasthan.
In-migration to states and cities with more jobs, such as Maharashtra, Delhi, Gujarat, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Punjab.
Seasonal and circular migration, where workers move for part of the year.

Migrants work in construction, factories, services, domestic work and agriculture.

Benefits

Higher earnings for migrants and remittances to home states.
Labour for industries and cities in destination states.
Skills and experience that migrants may bring home.

Challenges

Access to services: welfare benefits were historically tied to a person’s home state, making it hard for migrants to access food rations, health care and schools elsewhere.
Housing: migrants often live in poor, crowded conditions.
Informal work without contracts or social security.
Language barriers and discrimination.

The COVID-19 lockdown in 2020 revealed these vulnerabilities, as millions of migrant workers lost jobs and struggled to return home.

Policy responses

One Nation One Ration Card, rolled out nationwide by 2022, allows ration card holders to collect subsidised food grains anywhere in India.
e-Shram portal, launched in 2021, registers unorganised workers, including migrants.
Affordable rental housing schemes for migrants.

Rations in a new city

A construction worker from Bihar works in Mumbai. Before portable rations, his family's ration card worked only in his home village, so he could not buy subsidised grain in Mumbai. With One Nation One Ration Card, he can collect his share of grain at a ration shop in Mumbai, while his family collects the rest in Bihar.

Thinking internal migrants are a burden on destination states

Migrants supply essential labour for construction, industry and services in destination states. Making benefits portable helps both migrants and the economies that depend on them.

Key takeaways

Around 9 million people migrated between states each year in 2011 to 2016, the Economic Survey estimated.
Migrants move mainly from poorer northern and eastern states to richer states and cities.
Access to services, housing and informal work are major challenges.
One Nation One Ration Card and e-Shram aim to support migrant workers.