I had a few hundred dollar bills left in my wallet on return from a sojourn in the US. The dollars remained with me because most establishments in the US, accepted only card transactions and shops in European transit airports dealt in euros only. I wanted to deposit the dollars in my savings bank account. When I approached my bank, the manager said the branch did not deal in foreign exchange and that I should approach a branch dealing in forex. As directed, I went to a nearby NRI branch dealing in foreign exchange transactions.
The clerk at the counter advised me to meet the manager. I waited to see the manager who was busy discussing with a couple of clients on a loan matter. After a prolonged wait, I could enter the manager’s cabin and said I wanted to deposit some dollars in my savings bank account.
The manager said that the forex officer was the only authorised person to receive foreign exchange and he was on leave for a week. He advised me to come back after a week. On my query for alternatives, he suggested locations of other bigger branches of the bank in the city which dealt with foreign currencies. But those branches were located 10 to 20 km away.
Having ventured out on the errand, I was not willing to give up. I went to another big NRI bank branch which might have more than one forex officer even if one was on leave. When I approached the authorised official, she asked me whether I possessed copies of my passport and visa. I said I bought the dollars from the same bank by debiting my savings bank account and wanted to deposit the unused dollars back into my savings account.
The forex officer insisted that I should attach copies of my passport and visa with the application for deposit of dollars, because that was the only procedure she knew. I went back home and got the requisite copies of documents and handed back the filled up form and challan. The money was deposited in my account after debiting bank’s commission and forex transaction service tax. It was a double whammy, because when I purchased the dollars from the same bank a few months back, the bank debited my account with bank’s commission and forex transaction service tax.
It is child’s play for the rich and famous to scoot with hundreds of crores of rupees from banks. But, it was a pain in the neck to deposit my money into my account in a bank.
P Subramanian
Email: mailpsubramanian@gmail.com