Image Courtesy: federalbank.co.in
The Economic Times reported that soon banks might add a new column in their Know Your Customer (KYC) forms for depositors and clients to mention their religion. The report says that the requirement could be on account of changes to FEMA regulations that extend the benefits of opening NRO accounts to non-Muslim minorities from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.
According to the RBI’s website “A Citizen of Bangladesh/Pakistan belonging to minority communities in those countries i.e. Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians residing in India and who has been granted LTV or whose application for LTV is under consideration, can open only one NRO account with an AD bank subject to the conditions mentioned in Notification No. FEMA 5(R)/2016-RB dated April 01, 2016, as updated from time to time.” The entire notification may be read here.
Interestingly, this provision, and in fact the entire notification does not mention refugees from Afghanistan.
But this begs the question that if NRO accounts can be opened by these people how will the bank determine the religion of the applicant? Will it rely on surnames? Will banks leave such a major decision to mere speculation? Will it require people to disclose their religion? Will banks compel applicants to disclose religion? Is it being presumed that people seeking refuge due to religious persecution will be open to disclosing their religion? This is still a gray area.
Sabrang India had reported recently about how the RBI that controls the currency, banking system and monetary policy, issued Notification No. FEMA 21(R)/2018-RB on March 26, 2018 under the provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management (Acquisition and Transfer of Immovable Property in India) Regulations, 2018. Point 7 of this notification permitted non-Muslim minorities from the three countries mentioned in the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) to purchase property in India.
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