New Delhi: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) plans to address challenges faced by exporters in the rupee-based trading mechanism for foreign trade. To facilitate this, the RBI is expected to issue a standard operating procedure (SOP) for banks to issue proofs of inward remittances for exporters expeditiously, a top government official told The Hindu.
“There were some initial teething problems with the rupee-trading mechanism, but transactions have started happening in many areas, although we are not sure of the figures at this point,” the senior Commerce Ministry official told the newspaper.
He said that certain exporters faced issues where Foreign Inward Remittance Certificates (FIRC) from one bank were not being sent to another bank, resulting in delays in generating Electronic Bank Realisation Certificates (e-BRCs).
Electronic bank realisation certificates or e-BRCs are issued by banks to exporters as a proof of payment that validates their exports and makes them eligible for any benefits under the Foreign Trade Policy.
The official said the ministry has taken this up with the RBI and it is in the process of issuing a detailed SOP to all the banks so that e-BRC generation happens in a timely manner.
The RBI should be releasing the SOP for the banks in the next few days, the daily reported him as saying.
Regarding reports of Indian oil firms paying Russia in Chinese yuan for imports, the government official said that traders are allowed to use any currency for international payments. Nonetheless, the government is still keen on promoting rupee-based trade with more countries.