The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has been granted an additional six weeks to respond to a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, requesting the implementation of a Uniform Banking Code for foreign exchange transactions to prevent the generation of black money and benami transactions. The PIL raises concerns about loopholes in the system for the transfer of foreign funds, which can be exploited by separatists, fundamentalists, naxals, maoists, and terrorists.

During the hearing, the counsel for RBI requested more time to file a reply, as the bank had recently been impleaded as one of the respondents. The court granted the request and rescheduled the matter for further hearing in July. The court had previously noted that the matter deserved a detailed hearing and had asked the RBI to file its response on the petition.

The PIL seeks direction to ensure that Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS), National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT), and Instant Money Payment System (IMPS) are not used for depositing foreign money in Indian banks. The petitioner claims that such transactions are not only harmful to India’s foreign exchange reserve but are also being used to fund separatists, fundamentalists, naxals, maoists, terrorists, traitors, conversion mafias, and radical organizations such as the SIMI and the PFI.

The petitioner argues that immigration rules for a visa are the same, irrespective of whether the foreigner comes in business class or economy class, uses Air India or British Airways, or comes from the USA or Uganda. Therefore, the deposit details in Indian banks, including foreign bank branches for foreign exchange transactions, must be in the same format, regardless of whether it is an export payment in a current account, salary in a savings account, donation in charities current account, or service charges payable in YouTuber’s accounts. The format should be uniform, whether it is converted by Western Union, National Bank, or an India-based foreign bank.

The PIL further argues that a Foreign Inward Remittance Certificate (FIRC) must be issued, and all international and Indian banks must send the link through SMS to obtain FIRC automatically in case foreign exchange is being deposited in the account as converted INR. Additionally, the petitioner suggests that only a person or company should be permitted to send Indian rupees from one bank account to another bank account within India through RTGS, NEFT, and IMPS. International banks should not be allowed to use these domestic banking transaction tools.

The PIL also seeks direction that foreign exchange transactions through Indian banks and foreign bank branches in India must have information such as the name and mobile number of the depositor, International Money Transfer (IMT), and not RTGS/NEFT/IMPS, and the name of currency.

In conclusion, the PIL filed by advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay aims to address the loopholes in the system for the transfer of foreign funds, which could be used to fund separatists, fundamentalists, naxals, maoists, and terrorists, among other things. The RBI has been granted an additional six weeks to respond to the PIL, which raises concerns about the misuse of Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS), National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT), and Instant Money Payment System (IMPS) to deposit foreign money in Indian banks. The petitioner seeks to ensure uniformity in deposit details, format, and information for foreign exchange transactions through Indian banks and foreign bank branches in India.