Revisiting reintegration policies for return migrants in Kerala: strategies for a post-COVID World

Kerala has long been the foremost source of international migrants from India, with remittances from abroad contributing more than 20 per cent of the state’s GDP. The COVID-19 pandemic, compounded by the collapse in global oil prices, precipitated a large-scale return of Keralite workers from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, adding to an already accelerating trend of return migration observed over the preceding decade. Drawing on data from the Kerala Migration Survey (KMS) 2018 and administrative records from NORKA-Roots, this paper examines the socioeconomic profile of return emigrants, evaluates the adequacy of existing state-level reintegration and rehabilitation frameworks, and identifies structural gaps in Kerala’s migration governance architecture. Comparative insights from the Philippines’ Overseas Filipino Workers reintegration model are used to benchmark best practices. The paper argues that effective reintegration requires a decisive shift from short-term financial relief towards sustainable, long-term interventions grounded in decentralised governance, comprehensive data collection at the grassroots level, expanded cooperative finance networks, and coordinated multi-ministry engagement. It further contends that Kerala’s experience can serve as a template for broader national policy reform in India.