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Resident Indians can run dollar accounts now. Should you open one? By Ashish Gupta
Whatever it is, a tentative step towards full capital account convertibility or just an isolated move to liberalise foreign exchange restrictions -- the benefit to you, the resident Indian, is clear and certain. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will let you open and operate a foreign currency domestic bank account (a current account, so no interest, but with a cheque book). Just ensure that the source of the funds is legitimate, and you can heap your account with dollars. Money leftover from your last trip overseas, some money you got for delivering that lecture in LA, the prize money you won, the receipts from the Internet software programming you did for a foreign company via the Internet -- or even the lumpsum your uncle sent as a gift. What can you use it for? Well, anything you might need dollars for -- and that means more than regular things like treatment, sightseeing or studies abroad. With the Internet all over the place, there's plenty of shopping you'd like to do -- or dozens of websites you'd like paid access to. In short, the account gives you access to the world marketplace. This is quite a remarkable freedom, really, since it's such a pain getting things imported under normal circumstances. Earlier, if you wanted to hold more than $2,000 dollar at any point of time, you had to buy the money from a registered forex player, which meant getting a clearance from the RBI. Should you get yourself such an account? Yes, if you picture yourself in the above mentioned circumstances. It's better than relying on relatives abroad, or striking pay-back-in-rupees deals -- or, worse, stuffing all those dollar bills under the mattress for that next holiday to Spain. Change comes slowly, but it comes. That's a relief.
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