Indo-Canadians worry as Indian rupee cancellations grips over

Jagdish Bajaj, a Indo-Canadian business man, who keeps visiting the country yearly is in a big fix as he has around 40,000 Indian rupees, equivalent to almost $400 Canadian dollars with him in Toronto. 

“I just don’t know how to get my cash converted. I kept this money with me to use in India on our next trip as most cash dealings take place in the country, " said Bajaj

On Tuesday, the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi surprised the nation and the world with a sudden call-off of all 500 and 1000 Indian Rupee notes, equivalent to $10 and $20 in Canadian currency.
According to the Prime Minister the move was in wake of controlling the “black money” hoarders and counter terrorism activities around the country and across the border. 

The Consulate General of India, Toronto, said it did not have any directive from the government yet on how to tackle the currency exchange overseas. 

Usha Venkatesan, Press Secretary from The Consulate of India, Toronto, said, “We have not yet received any clarification on this, The Reserve Bank of India has answers to most of the NRI queries. We are awaiting responses.” 

More than 50 percent of adult Indian or Indo-Canadians living in Canada is affected by the problem of discontinued currency notes. 

Some have received the money as presents from visiting families or relatives, while for some the money came from past travel. 

Samir Gathe, an IT consultant, who recently immigrated to Canada says, “ I have around 5000 Indian Rupees in cash, just left for a travel back home anytime soon. I never converted it as I felt the conversion was not worth the rate and moreover I  had a purpose to keep it for travel.” 

“But now I don’t know how to use it,” he adds. 

The 31-year-old does not have any plans to go to India anytime soon and believes he won’t be able to make it to his country before the government directive deadline of December 30, or till March 31 to exchange the currency bills in specific banks of the country. 

Bajaj, like Gathe also feels frustrated as there is no specific directive how overseas Indians or Indo-Canadians can exchange their currency notes. 

“It’s totally a waste of money as we are clueless what to do with our hard earned money,” says Bajaj. 

Harsha Raghute, who is here on a work permit and had her family visited her a few months back, has a few currency notes as part of gifts from the family. 

“I decided to send them home by mail but am not too sure whether that will be a good idea. Plus many courier companies in Toronto already announced that they will not be handling discontinued currency bills of India, “said Raghute. 

IBNS spoke to a few banks of Indian origin along with a few Canadian banks in Toronto to seek a directive on the ongoing problem that the diaspora is facing. 

The ICICI Bank in Toronto said they are not accepting Indian currencies as it is not a part of their business dealings here in overseas. 

A TD Bank spokesperson told that with a change in the currency bills, exchange rate for rupees is not available until further notice. However, wire payments are still ongoing.

The Royal Bank of Canada too informed they won’t be able to deal with Indian Rupees in any denomination until details of the new bank notes are available with the bank and are in circulation.

Gathe says, “We need a clear guidance from the RBI or the Government as we are all affected with the money out here.” 

(Reporting by Debarati Mukherjee)