Page 1 of 1
Currency to keep my savings in India
Posted: Thu Mar 15, 2007 12:57 am
by meelak
I currently live in USA (US citizen) and plan to R2I in the near future. The questions I have are as follows:
1) I plan to sell my house, car and other assets and transfer the proceeds into my bank account in India. My religious beliefs do not allow me to get interest from the banks so I will just keep my savings that I transfer from here into a non-interest bearing account. Now the question is should I immediately convert the savings (let's say $200K) into rupees and keep rupees in the account or should I keep it as a dollar account and keep dollars or should I convert them into UK pounds and hold them. I am not that knowledgeable on the long-term prospects on which currency is better to hold. Would be interested in knowing how others have handled this matter as well.
2) If I convert into rupees and keep it in a repatriable rupee account, can I repatriate later on as dollars if I decide to come back to US?
I sincerely thank all the people who have contributed to this forum. Great work!!!
Meelak
Currency to keep my savings in India
Posted: Thu Mar 15, 2007 1:34 am
by realentity
You can keep the money in an FCNR account. Of course, all bank accounts earn interest. So I would suggest, donating that interest ($16,000 per yr) to charity in India if you do not want to keep it. In FCNR accounts, your deposit remains in USD and can be fully repatriated.
http://www.icicibank.com/Pfsuser/icicibank/ibank-nri/nrinewversion/Accounts_USA_FCNRfixed.htm
Currency to keep my savings in India
Posted: Thu Mar 15, 2007 4:20 am
by DoctorJ
realentity;12599You can keep the money in an FCNR account. Of course, all bank accounts earn interest. So I would suggest, donating that interest ($16,000 per yr) to charity in India if you do not want to keep it. In FCNR accounts, your deposit remains in USD and can be fully repatriated.
[/quote]
Hate to deviate from the actual topic of discussion...but wanted to recognise the meaningful advice our friend "The real deal realentity" has given above.
I understand and respect religious sentiments - appreciate an individual's wish to do or not do something ethical or legal. But would it not be better if one were to consider charity for something one does not need and a lot of less fortunate beings could use? I'd strongly urge people to have second thoughts.
Coming to the actual topic of discussion, I'd suggest that OP continue to keep the savings in USD - specially if one plans to return to the USA.
================================================
Why complicate things unnecessarily??? -DJ :cool:
Currency to keep my savings in India
Posted: Thu Mar 15, 2007 6:48 pm
by meelak
Guys,
Appreciate your responses. Leaving aside the interest part and how to handle it, the question is which currency is better to hold for long term and why? I know there is no sure answer and the currencies fluctuate, but given the current projected outlook - USD or GBP or Euro? I don't plan on returning back to US in immediate future. But for unforeseen circumstances if things didn't work out in India or ten/fifteen years down the road for children education, etc. if I need to use the money from the savings, I want to be able to use that.
Thanks.
Meelak
Currency to keep my savings in India
Posted: Thu Mar 15, 2007 7:10 pm
by realentity
Indian banks are very liberal in giving away USD and Euros since surplus USD and Euros keep getting transferred to NRE accounts.
So, say you R2I and need to send your kid to the US to do his/her masters degree after 15 years, air tickets would be paid in rupees. The only thing you would need is 1 yr tution + rent + food = $10,000. So you can leave this amount here in the US in fixed deposits and the rest convert it into rupees.
Currency to keep my savings in India
Posted: Thu Mar 15, 2007 8:04 pm
by RRK
1. Transfer all money into US checking account - you wont get nay interest.
2. Transfer money in installments, instead of converting everything in one shot. It is like DCA.
3. No one knows what currency would do better in future. Open FCNR in each of these currencies. If you want you can convert them to RFC account in each of these currencies after return and hold money in different currencies.
4. But dont keep it in currencies for long time. Plan your AAP and invest for long term. Good luck !