Indian expats won’t get new Rs500 and Rs2,000 notes in UAE

Abu Dhabi: Indian expatriates in the UAE cannot immediately get newly issued Rs500 and Rs2,000 currency notes that were meant to address the currency note crunch following the withdrawal of Rs500 and Rs1,000 notes last week, industry experts said on Saturday.
India issued new Rs500 and Rs2,000 currency notes on Thursday.
Money exchanges in the UAE never get newly issued Indian currency notes directly from India because India does not export its currency abroad through official channels, senior executives of money remittance industry told Gulf News on Saturday.
“We get Indian rupee notes from our customers who sell them to us and we resell them to other customers. Therefore, we have to wait for Indian customers who bring the newly issued notes from India and sell them to us,” said Osama Al Rahma, chairman of the Foreign Exchange and Remittance Group (FERG) — an official platform of the companies engaged in the business of money exchange and remittances in the UAE.
He said the case of other international currencies such as the dollar and euro are different. “When the euro was introduced to replace many European currencies, we imported it from Europe and sold it here at the same time,” said Al Rahma, who is also the CEO of Al Fardan Exchange.
Echoing the same, Y. Sudhir Kumar Shetty, vice-chairman of FERG and president of UAE Exchange, said this system of Indian currency circulation abroad [not through official export but through individual customers] has been in place for many years.
Al Rahma and Shetty said the money exchange centres were flooded with requests from Indian customers to exchange their invalid Rs500 and Rs1,000 notes but they are unable to entertain the requests.
Shetty said FERG has written to the UAE Central Bank to help the money exchange centres deal with the stocked invalid Indian rupee notes.
As Gulf News reported on Friday, Bank of Baroda, the only Indian bank with commercial operations in the UAE, is not accepting the invalid notes although banks



in India have started accepting the withdrawn notes, The bank has approached the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for permission to accept those notes, a senior official told Gulf News on Thursday.
“Our corporate office has written to the RBI and we are waiting for a reply,” said Sanjay Joshi, chief manager — planning, publicity and operations at Bank of Baroda.
RBI guidance for NRIs
1. How much money can NRIs exchange at airport?
If you are travelling to India, you can exchange invalid Rs500 and Rs1,000 notes worth a total of Rs5,000 at banks or money exchange centres at airports.
2. If you are not in India right now, what should you do?
If you have specified banknotes in India, you may authorise someone in writing, enabling the person to deposit the notes in your bank account. The person so authorised has to go to the bank with the specified bank notes, the authorisation letter given by you and a valid identity proof such as Aadhaar card, voter ID card, passport, driving licence, PAN card etc
3. You are an NRI and hold an NRO (Non-Resident Ordinary) account; can the exchange value be deposited in your account?
Yes, you can deposit the specified banknotes to your NRO account without any limit. However deposit above Rs250,000 will be reported to Income Tax authorities that may ask the source of the money. If you can prove income source abroad under your NRI status, the money will not be taxable.
4. Where can I go to exchange the notes?
The exchange facility is available at all issue offices of the RBI and branches of commercial banks, rural banks, state cooperative banks or at any head post office or sub-post office.
5. What should you be cautious about?
While depositing or exchanging Rs500 or Rs1,000 notes in banks or post office, if you are providing ID and Permanent Account Number (PAN) card copy, it is better to attest the same and write that you are depositing so much amount and date. This is to avoid duplication of your unsigned PAN and ID copies several times.