Underlining the export potential of Jharkhand, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has rated it as underachiever in the field. Explaining this CD Srinivasan, Chief General Manager from Foreign Exchange Department said that the State had immense potential in producing indigenous produces which can play a significant role on preserving and adding to precious foreign exchange.
Speaking in an awareness programme organised by RBI, FJCCI and Federation of Indian Export Organisation (FIEO) for generating awareness about foreign exchange among entrepreneurs and common man, Srinivasan also cautioned against unnecessary imports.
“Jharkhand can be a powerhouse for export but there are bottlenecks like lack of knowledge among businessmen and of relating to infrastructure available. Take an example of mica powder which is being exported to China, processed there and again imported back to India. Such activities eat up our precious foreign exchange,” said the official and counted on potential in egg powder and others in the State.
On the problem relating to dealing with foreign exchange in Jharkhand, Srinivasan said that people can approach to the Patna Regional Office. He also advised them to abide by Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) to safeguard them against any legal trouble.
Talking about foreign exchange reserve in the country MK Verma, RBI’s Regional Director (Bihar and Jharkhand) said that lack of study has made things unclear. “We have at present about 300 billion dollar of reserve which is way ahead of what we had in 1990s. But it unfortunate that there is not credible study that can fix what sort of reserve is suffice for the country,” said Verma.
He also expressed concern over leaping imports in the form of gold and crude oil which has its adverse impact on current account deficit, i.e. gap between country’s import and export. Verma also mentioned that regulations to deal
with foreign exchange have seen a paradigm shift from “draconian” FERA to “particularly convenient” FEMA.
The officials were particular about phishing and banking frauds underway in a big way now a days and requested officials of State level Banking Committee to keep a tab on suspicious money truncated in dormant accounts in particular.