The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has issued new guidelines for full-fledged money changers, requiring them to ensure that the value of foreign currency notes sold to the public is at least 75 per cent of the value of the notes bought from other money changers on a quarterly basis.
These directives come into effect from 1 July 2024, as declared by the central bank on Monday.
The aim of these measures is to maintain reasonable levels of foreign currency balances held by full-fledged money changers and prevent the accumulation of idle balances, according to the central bank.
The RBI also emphasised the need for full-fledged money changers to keep records of foreign currency sale and purchase transactions for audit and inspection purposes.
Full-fledged money changers are permitted to obtain foreign currency notes from other full-fledged money changers and authorised dealers in India as per the central bank's regulations.
In addition, the RBI has instructed full-fledged money changers to submit their annual audited balance sheets, along with a certificate from statutory auditors confirming the net-owned funds as of the balance sheet date, to the relevant regional office of the RBI. This submission should be made no later than October 31 of the relevant year, as per the RBI's directives.
