When Balambika Rengarajam left the comfort of her family home in Chennai, India, in late 2024, she was answering a call of duty. A skilled women’s health physiotherapist working at a respected hospital, she had long benefited from the care and stability of living with her parents.
But as household expenses mounted and her mother’s health declined, she made the difficult decision to seek opportunity abroad, determined to send remittances home and ensure her family’s well-being.
Rengarajam was recruited to the Cayman Islands by Jacqui Smith – a retired physiotherapist and business owner – who was looking for someone to provide the much-needed service of addressing often-overlooked women’s health issues at her Walkers Road business, RVC Rehab Services.
“Bala (as she is known) is very gentle, a good listener, and creates a safe space for women,” Smith told the Compass. “She treats conditions that many women silently endure without seeking help.”
Her new chapter was far from easy. She arrived alone, with no family and far away from anything familiar. She would learn to budget, navigate unfamiliar roads and find ways to stretch her earnings so she could send as much as possible back home.
Every four months, Rengarajam saves nearly 60% of her income and sends it to India. The conversion rates and bank fees chip away at the total, but what remains still carries great weight. Her money goes toward housing debts and hospital bills. She lives simply, sharing a room in the home of an Indian family, buying groceries only on sale and denying herself luxuries so her parents can live without fear of falling ill without care.
“It’s a mix of pressure and pride,” she told the Compass. “Pressure to provide for my parents and pride that I can.”
She is one of a growing number of Indian nationals now living in the Cayman Islands. As of 31 Oct. 2024, Indians held the third highest number of work permits (2,133) behind only Jamaicans (15,244) and Filipinos (6,678). While their numbers may seem modest, their impact is anything but.
“Even though I live far from home now, the work I do here in Cayman allows me to send money back to help cover their living expenses and medical needs,” she said. “It gives me peace of mind to know that I can contribute … The cost of living in India is rising and my support makes a real difference in their day-to-day life.”
In India, remittances are a cornerstone of the economy. In 2024-25, the Indian diaspora sent home a record-breaking $135.46 billion, making the country the world’s top recipient of remittances. That figure represented 3.5% of GDP, fuelled by workers like Bala who quietly bridge two worlds – serving one while sustaining another.
Rengarajam’s twin brother Ganesh, still living in India, spoke with the Compass via Zoom. “She is the backbone of our family,” he said. “We miss her every day. But we are proud of her.”
Remittances and Cayman’s role in global development
Cayman is typically known for its financial services and tourism industries – not for its role in global development. But a closer look reveals the impact of migrant workers who send home millions of dollars in remittances each year. Despite earning modest wages, many make daily sacrifices to support their families abroad – covering essential expenses, such as rent, school fees, medical bills, funerals, groceries and home repairs.
These monthly transfers – acts of duty and love sent by those who left everything behind – speak to a quiet but noble part of Cayman’s role in the global economy.
In 2024, workers in Cayman sent home more than US$318 million – equivalent to nearly 5% of GDP – according to the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority. While that figure pales in comparison to the US$93 billion remitted from the United States, Cayman’s outflows are substantial when viewed relative to its economy. As a share of GDP, Cayman’s remittances rival those of the United Arab Emirates – the world’s second-largest source of remittance outflows at 7.1% of GDP – and Switzerland, the fourth largest, at 4%.
In the first quarter of 2025 alone, Cayman residents sent US$74.9 million in remittances via money-transfer services like Western Union and MoneyGram. Jamaica received 63.6% of that total, followed by the Philippines (13.4%), Honduras (6.9%) and the United States (3.8%). India received a much smaller share of 0.2%.
The Cayman Islands Government collected US$3.45 million in remittance-related fees in 2024 and has forecasted US$6 million in revenue from these fees for the 2025 fiscal year. In the first quarter of 2025 – between January and March – it generated US$1.43 million from local money transfer providers.
In Jamaica, where remittances are the second-largest source of foreign exchange after tourism and a lifeline for over half the population, Cayman stands out as the fourth-largest source market – after the United States, United Kingdom and Canada. Cayman’s outsized role is especially notable given its small size in comparison to other source markets.
Emotional toll
For workers like Locksley Davis, a media industry professional from Saint Catherine, Jamaica, those remittances come at a personal cost.
“It was very stressful and emotional back then, but I did it for a better life for us,” he told the Compass. A father of three, he remembers vividly the emotional toll of leaving his 1-year-old son behind when he migrated to Cayman in 2001.
Today, that son is 24. Davis’ two younger children are still in school – one in high school, the other in trade school – and he sends money home twice a month to help cover their expenses, along with the needs of his wife, his mother and, at times, his siblings and friends.
“I would say one-third of my salary goes towards my family,” he told the Compass. “My remittance is vital to my loved ones. It’s changed their lives for the better, big time.”
Davis says the money he sends home covers groceries, electricity and water bills, gas, internet and school fees. He plays the role of father, husband, son, friend – and distant provider – but is often absent for birthdays, school events and late-night illnesses.
“It’s a rollercoaster ride emotionally,” he said. “Sometimes I feel the pressure of being away from my loved ones. It makes me just want to pack my bags and go home. But my goals have changed. I’m working towards financial independence and seeing my children through school.”
Higher value remittances
That drive for long-term stability is reflected in the numbers. High-value transfers – those over CI$500 – from Cayman are on the rise. Between the first quarter of 2023 and the same period in 2025, such transactions to Jamaica grew by 22%, pointing to either rising incomes, increasing needs back home or a change in financial strategies. At the same time, low-value remittances declined, particularly to the Philippines, signalling a shift toward fewer, but more substantial, transfers.
Remittances account for nearly 9% of the Philippines’ GDP, placing the country among the most remittance-dependent in the Asia-Pacific region and in the global top five. Deeply woven into Filipino culture, remittances reflect strong family ties, with 2.16 million overseas Filipino workers supporting loved ones back home, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority.
While their earnings are vital, the emotional toll is steep, especially for women. Many miss their children’s milestones and some return to strained relationships. Ironically, many Filipinos work as caregivers, raising other people’s children while separated from their own.
For ‘Cayman Nanny’, a Filipina woman who asked not to be named, the price of opportunity was heartbreak. A former English teacher, she left the Philippines in 2004 to earn a better wage in Cayman, leaving her nine children – ranging in age between 5 and 23 – in the care of their father.
‘Love of family’
“Bottom line was money,” she told the Compass. “More opportunities to make money and make life bearable, if not totally free from want … Do or die. All for the love of family, of a brighter future, of a decent living. … For a yearly salary of US$60,000 tax free.”
Less than a year later, her 17-year-old was killed at a town fiesta. “It crushed my heart and made me mourn for years. Even up till now,” she said.
Despite the heartbreak and loss she endured, the remittances she sent – often nearly her entire salary – made a meaningful difference in her family’s life.
“Before, they sometimes went to bed without dinner. When I left, they could afford three square meals a day and their basic needs were met. … Everybody was in private school, graduated secondary level and the rest are now professionals,” she said.
Cayman Nanny’s children have since taken diverse and ambitious paths – a product of her sacrifice. Two sons run an air-conditioning business, her daughter serves as a police officer, another child owns a cleaning company, one became an aircraft mechanic, another is a registered nurse, and the two youngest are pursuing degrees in business and environmental science.
“Shattered dreams, wounded heart and broken toys … all for chasing pretty rainbows,” she said, referencing the bittersweet nature of her journey.
These stories reflect the core tension at the heart of remittances: profound benefits accompanied by sacrifice.
In Cayman, the subject has sometimes been contentious, fuelled by fears of capital flight. The debate resurfaced recently after government announced that the new minimum wage – set to take effect in January 2026 – would increase from CI$6 an hour to CI$8.75 per hour, sparking worries that higher wages could result in even more money being sent overseas.
At a 9 July press briefing, Michael Myles, minister for Caymanian employment and immigration, defended the raise, not only as a tool to lift workers out of poverty locally, but also as a matter of fairness, drawing parallels to Cayman’s own history of overseas work and remittances.
He asked, “Why would we deny our guest workers who take care of our elderly, our children, our disabled, who clean our homes, who provide security to our homes, commercial buildings and schools, and who provide janitorial services, landscaping and construction … the right to earn a decent wage, even if it means they are using it to support their families in their own countries?”
For people like Rengarajam, it is a matter of dignity and survival. Her parents are elderly, and her mother – a closed-heart surgery patient – requires ongoing care.
“Being in Cayman has opened up opportunities for me that I didn’t have back home, and I feel grateful that I can use those opportunities to give back to the people who raised me,” she said.
Rengarajam describes how she calls her parents every night at 10pm Cayman time – their morning. She sends photos and videos of Cayman, answers questions about her work and finds joy in their pride.
She speaks warmly of her Caymanian employer, who picked her up from the airport when she first arrived and housed her for 10 days until she found accommodation. Smith checks in regularly to ensure she’s emotionally well.
“She believes in me,” Rengarajam said. “That means everything.”
Remittances and global financial resilience
Globally, remittances are a powerful and resilient source of financial support for developing countries, often exceeding official aid and foreign investment. The World Bank reported a 5.8% increase in remittances to low- and middle-income countries in 2024, with another 2.8% rise projected for 2025. A 2025 study found that a one-percentage-point increase in remittances as a share of GDP raises economic growth by 0.16%.
As foreign aid budgets shrink – the US and UK both slashed funding in early 2025 – remittances remain more consistent and counter-cyclical. After natural disasters or economic shocks, they often surge.
Remittances are also deeply human. Behind every wire transfer is someone like Davis, Cayman Nanny or Rengarajam counting cash in the checkout line, choosing utility bills over meals, dreaming not of riches but of security for their families back home.
Back in Cayman, Rengarajam gets into her car after a long day. Her brother used to wait for hours in Chennai to pick her up after shifts at the hospital. Now, she’s the one navigating unknown roads.
When she first arrived, homesick and scared, she wondered when she’d go home. Now, she’s feeling more comfortable with each passing day.
“For a woman, being unmarried and abroad is unusual in our culture,” she said. “But I’ve been given the chance to help my parents. That is a blessing.”