Demonetisation: Kerala suffers decline in expat remittances
- Indian rupee touched ₹68.85 on Wednesday, the biggest single-day fall since October 1995
- Inward remittance from Indian expats in GCC countries reduced after the announcement of demonetisation
- NRIs prefer to transfer money to savings bank accounts of family members rather than NRI accounts
FollowThe depreciation of Indian rupee after Centre announced demonetisation does not seem to benefit Gulf-based non-resident Indians. Though rupee touched an all-time low near 69 to the dollar on Thursday, people in Gulf regions are not trying to take advantage of this.
The pummeling in markets has sent rupee reeling to an all-time low of ₹68.85, the biggest single-day fall since October 1995. The value of Qatar Riyal against Indian rupee has reached 18.69, the biggest in three years while the value of UAE dirham is 18.73. On Wednesday money exchanges gave ₹224.5 INR for Kuwait dinar.
Manoramaonline reports that only less than 10% expats in Qatar are taking advantage of the situation. Same is the situation in other countries as well. Kerala expats are worried over the confusion prevailing in the banking sector after currency ban and do not dare to remit money to their NRI account. Transactions through cash payout facilities too have reduced after demonetisation the on November 8. Most NRI's are now opting to deposit money to savings account of family members.
Inward remittances peaked in October 2013 when the value of Qatar riyal became ₹18.80. Indian expatriates in GCC countries had resorted to personal loans as rupee touched ₹62.03 against US dollar. However, this time no such move is reported.
Banned ₹500 and ₹1000 notes amounting to crores of rupees stashed up with the money exchanges. There are reports that the exchanges are offering these denominations to NRIs for lower value as the Reserve Bank of India has not issued any guidelines to deal with the notes. Some organisations gave up to ₹1 lakh for 3000 Qatar riyal while banks are providing only up to ₹56,0
