Abu Dhabi: Some Indian expats in the UAE are rushing home to save their stashes of Rs500 and Rs1,000 bank notes.
Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) do not generally keep black money at home, as their income earned abroad is not taxable in India.
Still, some of them may have been caught flat-footed after sending large amounts of money home through illegal channels, at a slightly cheaper exchange rate.
Others have obtained black money after selling their properties in India. Big chunks of money received from such transactions may remain undeclared as recipients evade stamp duty and capital gains tax.
J.K., who hails from Kerala said he made the gross mistake of transferring Rs1 million (around Dh55,100) for his daughter’s wedding through an illegal channel on the day the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared Rs500 and Rs1,000 notes invalid.
J.K.’s decision to save some extra bucks has landed him in a big soup.
“My brother collected the entire money in denomination of Rs1,000 and now it is not even worth the value of tissue paper. I don’t know what to do, the wedding is next week,” said a shattered J.K.
Another troubled man, S.M, was rushing to Cochin in India on Wednesday because he had not declared a part of the money earned from a land transaction.
He wants to be with his mother who is concerned about the money being kept at home.
“In India, for any real estate transaction, you don’t pay full in white. It is normally 60:40 [white-black ratio] and now the 40 per cent in my hand is black and I’m set to lose all the profit that I made through the land sale. My mom sounded a bit worried and so I’m going to keep her calm. You can’t do much here,” said a worried S.M.
