NRI investors' plea to RBI

FINANCIAL EXPRESS


Tuesday, 17 February , 2004,


A UAE non-resident Indian (NRI) welfare organisation has urged the RBI authorities to instruct the banks to issue consolidated inward remittance certificates (IRC) to companies to help NRI investors.

K.V. Shamsudheen, Chairman, Pravasi Bandhu Welfare Trust, told Business Line that NRI investors were facing a serious problem when they apply for public issues and mutual funds. Companies offering IPOs and some mutual funds are insisting that an IRC be submitted along with payment and application. "Within the limited time of a public issue, obtaining an IRC from the bank by NRIs is impractical, time consuming and troublesome," he said.

He pointed out that NRIs are investing in public issues with NRI cheques issued by Indian banks or demand draft issued from abroad.

"NRI cheques have a different series and special marks and this enables the accepting bank to identify the payments are from an NRE account. Similarly, demand drafts purchased from abroad indicate that the money is from abroad," Shamsudheen said.