Friday, October 27, 2006: Chances are likely to widen for NRIs to send in more money to their home town, with the Centre's plan to double the amount per transaction allowed through money transfer operators (MTO) like post offices.

Currently, an NRI can send a maximum of 12 transactions in a calendar year, each not exceeding $2,500, as per RBI norms. This amount may be raised to $5,000.

The move is likely to be a good news for low-waged NRIs as high volume transactions will relieve then from paying more remittances each time.

Since the charges for funds sent through the MTOs are far higher than for those sent through the banking route, doubling the amount per transaction will make life easier for low wage earning NRIs.

The liberalisation could also further enhance the remittance business that touched $24.6bn in '05-06.

Source: http://www.andhracafe.com