Two Non-Resident Indians, Narendra Joshi and Jasbir Singh Saini were held by custom officers at New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International airport carrying over Rs 100,000 in old banned notes.
Joshi and Saini, who reside in United States, were visiting India to attend the Pravasi Haryana Divas.
While Mr Joshi is an Indian passport, his friend Mr Saini is an American passport holder. Both were held at the airport on 9th January night by customs officers who told them that a Non-Resident Indian cannot bring along an amount above Rs 25,000.
Mr Joshi told Hindustan Times that he was carrying around Rs 56,000 in scrapped 1,000 rupee notes and Rs 53,500 in the scrapped 500 rupee notes. They said around Rs 30,000 of these were given to him by his friends in US who wanted him to hand it over to their relatives in India.
Mr Joshi has been living in the US for 15 years and works with JMD Group, which owns department stores. Mr Saini travelled from Boston where he has a chain of American restaurants.
The duo were held by customs for three hours and was finally told to collect his money from the court.
"I told customs officials to trash my money but they didn’t listen to me. I am in India for 4 days and don’t have time to go to the court. I don’t know what to do," he said.
When Mr Joshi continued asking questions, he alleges the customs officials told him to consult a lawyer for further assistance.
They said that Indian passport holders and NRIs are only allowed to carry Rs 25,000 in old notes. For any amount larger than this, they have to explain the source of the money in court.
HOW DO NRI’s DEPOSIT OLD BANNED NOTES?
The RBI’s latest FAQ updated on 4th January 2017 stated that an NRI can make a one-time deposit in the central bank in the New Year.
They (NRIs) can avail of this facility in their individual capacity once in the period between 2 Jan- 30 June 2017 on submission of ID documents, such as Aadhaar number, Permanent Account Number (PAN) etc, and on submission of documentary evidence showing they were abroad during the period.
The facility will remain open for NRIs from January 2, 2017 to June 30, 2017 at five Reserve Bank offices at Mumbai, New Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, and Nagpur.
The facility can be availed only in individual capacity and only on one occasion during the period. No third party tender is permissible under the facility.
And this facility is not available to OCIs/PIOs.
