Indian govt doesn’t care much for NRIs’ ‘chump change’
Most NRIs keep a reasonable amount in high denomination notes with Rs25,000 being the cosmic outer limit as per law to avoid delays at Indian airports in making foreign exchange and simply pull out the slim little wads that have been lying under shirts and saris or in cupboards and drawers to take a cab home and, in case banks are closed, have enough for day one and two.
It is also unreasonable to expect NRIs to keep notes of small denominations and usually it is a few Rs500 and a couple of Rs1000 notes lying around. Despite all the professed affection for NRIs and those multiple Pravasi Bharitya Divas conventions held in various parts of the country for various ministers to iterate their love for Indians abroad, this week of good cheer is a bit soured. A few days ago, NRIs sent out a message to boycott these functions because the government seemed impervious to the demand by this global congregation to send its money back to the official coffers.
With good reason. As airlines hike up the cost of tickets by nearly 250 per cent (from the Gulf for sure) and families opt to stay home there is also a tangible sense of loss from the enormous mountain of Rs1000 and Rs500 notes lying around the diaspora. Assessed officially at 33 million people but probably higher by another five million with about Rs5000 being taken as the modest average lying with each person it comes to a sizeable Rs150 billion (Rs15,000 crore and running).
Here is this huge army of Indians scattered like clumps of confetti around the world, which cannot travel back and they have genuine cash but can do nothing about it. Rumours and half-truths that the government is listening to last moment pleas from community representatives for a delay in the December 31 deadline for these notes to be vacuumed in don’t seem to have much grounds, and the odds are the Not Required Indian will stay not required. Perhaps in the grand scheme of things the sum from NRIs is not astronomical but why lose it? You would think that one of the babus in the Ministry of Overseas Affairs would say, uh oh, that is a lot of money let’s create a blueprint for getting it back and instruct all banks to allow these monies to be sent by courier to the accounts up to Rs25,000 and let it be accepted.
There are rumours of an extension till March 31 but it might cost more to complete the exercise than one has to offer.
The Ministry makes one statement posted by NRI legal services: “For those who are incapable to exchange (sic) their Rs500 and Rs1000 notes or deposit the same in their bank accounts on or before December 30, 2016, an opportunity will be given to them to do so at specified RBI offices on later dates along with required documentation as may be specified by the Reserve Bank of India.”
With scarcely a couple of days left, the deadline is sure to pass. And the threemonth extension is up for grabs. No that it will help very much. The complete silence on the issue is puzzling because this is not black money. It is legal tender and well within the parameters of the law. The Customs form allows NRIs to bring in Rs25,000 though most of us carry less on each visit. And we do not take back much, just the left over financial debris of the holiday. This year the stress level has a different texture to it. For one, there is this fear that carrying banned notes might cause hassles at points of entry. No one wants to be taken aside because they are carrying six or seven crumpled notes. After December 31, this gets even more a matter of concern. There is no logic in the fear but it exists any way…there have been enough scare stories to make everyone stressed and hugely confused.
Though people have been asking associates and friends to carry the notes for them most people are chary about the favour and they have their own little bundles. Also between media reports and over the mobile phone scare stories have made going home even more of an uphill task. And it does not make sense spending Rs30,000 per passenger and more for a Y class ticket to make the end of the year deadline when such a low cost carrier ticket usually goes for Rs10,000 or thereabouts from Gulf countries. Then you spend most of the vacation standing in a queue or arguing with your friendly neighbourhood banker. Who is going to go through the rigmarole for a few thousand rupees? Besides, with their own problems no one is looking forward to a horde of relatives descending upon them. Familial love is fine but it has a price tag. The situation as it stands is that these Rs150 billion will be consumed by the clock. Come to think of it, the total is probably much more but it will most likely become a souvenir. That these crores are going to be largely lost to the exchequer seems to be of no concern to the authorities. Even blue collar labour has a note or two, often placed in their wallets for good luck by tearful parents sending their sons and daughters to foreign shores, when they leave home…a kind of ‘good luck talisman’ that has now lost its meaning.
There we are hearing reports of money being unearthed because it is the root of the corruption that has blighted India for seven decades. And then there is no desire to take this legal sum and put it to good use. After all, look at the delicious irony. It is not black money. It is bright, shiny, pristine white money that people want to return, which is allowed to be in NRI possession by law. So why are NRIs being penalised indirectly for not breaking the law. This is the oddest part. No one has an answer. No one seems the least concerned in New Delhi nor is it a big issue.
Rs 150 billion: doesn’t sound like chump change, does it?
Despite all the professed affection for NRIs and those multiple Pravasi Bharitya Divas conventions held in various parts of the country for various ministers to iterate their love for Indians abroad, this week of good cheer is a bit soured.