Every time someone violates the provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), it creates problems for everyone and the Reserve Bank of India has to do a lot of work for damage control, so the RBI has started an outreach programme to increase awareness on FEMA, RBI General Manager AO Basheer said.
Addressing students on the first day of the two-day outreach programme organised by the Management School of GITAM University here on Friday, he urged the audience to spread the knowledge they had gained from the session. While the foreign exchange regulations had been simplified, there were some restrictions on the transactions in foreign currency which the common man has to be aware of, he said.
Invitation to students
RBI teams have been touring different parts of the country to increase awareness among the common people as well as bankers and others who transact in foreign currency. The city has been chosen as it is the second largest centre for foreign exchange transaction in the State after Hyderabad, RBI Regional Director A S Rao said. He cautioned people against falling prey to email frauds that promise windfall gains.
He invited students to participate in the events lined up over the two days for increasing awareness on foreign exchange regulations and also asked them to participate in the session where the RBI officials would clarify doubts on the subject from bankers, industrialists and consultants who were handling foreign currency transactions.
The RBI was interacting with people in an effort to demystify the foreign exchange transactions and ensure that they follow the rules and regulations, RBI General Manager from Hyderabad R Govind Rao said.
The students were fortunate that the RBI officials were on hand to explain the different aspects of foreign currency handling, AGM of ICICI Bank Prashant Singh Bandili said.
State Bank of India DGM Manoj Khattar, DGM State Bank of Hyderabad K Ramesh Babu, DGM Andhra Bank A Narayana Prasada, Pro Vice Chancellor of GITAM University D Harinarayana, principal of GITAM Institute of Management K Siva Rama Krishna and circle head of Axis Bank V Shiva Prasad spoke.
RBI, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, SBI, SBH and Andhra Bank set up stalls to explain different provisions of the foreign exchange regulations and the services they were offering students.