Foreign citizens can't exchange old Rs 500 and 1,000 notes

According to the updated guidelines of the Reserve Bank of India, only resident Indian citizens and non-resident Indian citizens can exchange their currency at RBI offices.

An employee counts currency notes at a cash counter inside a bank. Source: X01402

It has been over two months since India withdrew the legal tender characteristic of Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 notes. For Indians living overseas, much of this period has been marred by confusion over the procedure for exchanging the banned notes. But, it has now emerged that Indians with foreign citizenship have no way of exchanging their banned Indian currency.

India’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of India, has recently revised the deadline for exchanging the banned currency for Indians living abroad. However, that facility is only available to the non-resident citizens of India and the resident citizens of India, who were not in India during the period between 9 November 2016 and 31^st December 2016.

This facility is only available at the RBI offices in Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata and Nagpur.

A screenshot of the RBI guidelines. Source: RBI

There seems to be no way for foreign nationals who have the old Indian currency, to exchange it. According to the updated guidelines of the Reserve Bank of India, Overseas Citizens of India (OCI) and Persons of Indian Origin (PIO) cannot avail this facility.

Many NRIs and overseas citizens of India have been facing difficulty in the absence of clarity about the process.

The RBI has decided to continue to permit foreign citizens to exchange foreign currency for Indian notes, subject to a limit of Rs 5,000 per week.    

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