KOCHI: Rajesh Chandran, an NRI residing in Qatar, plans to come to India in March this year. He has banned currency notes worth Rs 20,000. He says he had expected the government and the RBI would let him exchange these notes overseas. But no, he points out. Now, he has to go to Chennai to exchange these notes. Though there are two RBI offices in Kerala, none of them are allowed to accept banned notes.
For NRIs, many of whom are from South India, this is a serious problem. South India is the place of origin for 67 lakh NRIs — Kerala (25 lakh), Tamil Nadu (22 lakh) and Andhra Pradesh (20 lakh) states. Together, they send 50-60 per cent of total foreign exchange remittances to the country. These three states together account for 24.9 per cent of the total NRI population in the country.
But while the Reserve Bank, in its latest notification, has opened an old notes exchange facility at RBI offices in Mumbai, New Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, and Nagpur, there are no other authorised facilities. The office that are allowed to exchange notes will remain open for residents (who were abroad) from January 2 to March 31, 2017 and for NRIs from January 2 to June 30, 2017.
Pravasi Bandhu Welfare Trust, a UAE based expatriate organisation, has already written a letter to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on allowing the RBI office in Kochi to receive banned notes. The claim has grounds, as the state represents about 10 per cent of the 2.69 crore NRI population. Besides, Kerala receives 40 per cent of remittances that come to India. “The recent arrangement is confusing.
There is only one facility in the entire South (in Chennai) to exchange old notes, which is quite insufficient. An NRI in Kerala now needs to travel to Chennai to get his or her invalid currency exchanged. The ideal situation should be that the government opens currency exchange centres at airports. This will help to achieve a smooth transition,” said S Irudaya Rajan, Chair Professor, Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs.
According to RBI, there is no exchange limit for eligible Resident Indians. The limit for NRIs will be as per the relevant FEMA Regulations. They can avail this facility in their individual capacity once during the period on submission of ID documents such as Aadhaar number, Permanent Account Number etc, They also have to submit documentary evidence showing they were abroad during the period and that they have not availed the exchange facility earlier.
“The majority of these people are from the lower and middle income segment. It will be very difficult to go all the way to offices at Mumbai, New Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, and Nagpur. The RBI office in Kochi needs to be designated an official place of exchange,” asserted K V Shamsudheen, Chairman, Pravasi Bandhu Welfare Trust.