An Indian-origin doctor in UK deposited Rs 75,000 in scrapped currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 100 with his wife and relatives at the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in Mumbai on 19th January. But, he has not received a single penny in his account and has been told that the exchange facility was only open to Non Resident Indians (NRIs) while he holds a UK passport.
RBI desk accepted his deposit despite the exchange being open only to NRIs while the doctor holds an Overseas Citizen of India card.
Dr. Hasmukh Shash’s experience is symptomatic of the utter confusion that prevailed in the country after the revolutionary move in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi dis-continued all the currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 on 8th November last year. The RBI for the rest of the month issued notifications and changed the rules, adding more confusion to the chaos.
An ordinance was issued on 30th December stating that only NRIs could exchange the demonetized currency notes, But the RBI desk in Mumbai accepted Dr Shah, his wife and a relative’s deposits though they produced their Overseas Citizens of India (OCI) cards as identification.
That was not all, the contents of the 30th December ordinance reflected on the RBI website on 17th February.
Dr. Shah said that the government’ handling the whole process of demonetization was shambolic right from the word go. “My question is if we were not eligible, then why did they accept the deposits from us in the first place? Why would I queue up for three hours?” he said.
Dr. Shah did not even receive any information regarding their deposit from the RBI and what was causing the delay. He later realized what the problem was, when his friend Dr. Paresh Kapoor, who too had deposited scrapped currency notes during his Mumbai trip, received a mail from the RBI stating that he was not eligible for the exchange as he was not an NRI.
Dr Shah and his wife were in Mumbai for a month-long holiday and a reunion of the 1967 batch of Nair Hospital alumni.
Alpana Killawala spokesperson for RBI said that 30th December ordinance clearly states that only NRIs with an Indian passport and who have stayed more than 180 days abroad were eligible to deposit old currency notes. . “The ordinance clearly said OCIs and PIOs are not eligible,” she said.
When asked why deposits from Dr Shah, his wife and their relative’s were accepted, despite all of them produced their OCI cards, Kikawala said ““I will have to verify this based on the receipts and find out why this amount, if accepted, was not credited to their accounts.”
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