Money changers hit as international flights grounded

Money changers hit as international flights grounded

Yogesh.Kabirdoss@timesgroup.com

Chennai: 23.06.2020

The currency-changing business in the city is floundering. Full-Fledged Money Changer (FFMC) outlets dealing with foreign currency, which annually did a business of more than ₹5,000 crore, have been struggling since Covid-19 brought international travel and tourism to a grinding halt.

While there are 250 RBI-authorised FFMC shops employing 6,000-7,000 people in the city, thousands of others including leading showrooms and jewellery shops are engaged in the trade without authorisation. As per statistics, Indians exchanged ₹70,000 crore worth of foreign currency in 2019-20 for international travel, with Chennai accounting for around 8% of this, or approximately ₹5,600 crore.

With international air services grounded and tourism activities yet to resume across the world, those dealing with foreign currencies are stuck. “If there is no tourism, there is no foreign currency exchange business for FFMCs. We were one of the first businesses to be affected after the outbreak of coronavirus was reported in December 2019. Following China, people stopped travelling to other Asian countries with Europe and US joining the list later,” said V Raja, managing director of Maharaja Forex Pvt. Ltd.

Money changers deal in buying and selling foreign currency, with the US dollar the most sought after followed by Euro, Pound Sterling and currencies of Asian countries such as Singapore and Thailand.

K L Arun, director of citybased Prime Forex, said those being brought home from foreign countries under the ‘Vande Bharat Mission’ were the lone customers for currency exchange operators now. “Only 60% of forex operators in Chennai reopened shops after certain restrictions were relaxed. We are seeing more than 85% loss,” he said.

The Tamil Nadu Money Changer Association has urged the RBI to allow FFMCs to offer forex services for people travelling for education, emigration, employment and medical purposes to improve their business. Presently, authorised money changers can provide services only to business travellers and tourists as per existing rules.