The Hindu Business Line : Remittances Gateway for overseas Indians planned

AIMED at leveraging the growing remittances into the country from the overseas Indians at a whopping $21 billion, the Finance Ministry is planning to set up a Remittances Gateway and announce the details of the facility at the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD), the three-day conference, that is set to start here on Saturday.

Addressing newspersons on Friday, the Union Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs, Mr Oscar Fernandes, said the Remittances Gateway facilitates secure and fast electronic remittances into the country.

Stating that detailed discussions would be held at the Indian Diaspora on problems pertaining to remittances, Mr Fernandes said the Remittances Gateway facility would be announced subsequently.

Further, the Government would also unveil plans pertaining to broad- based insurance cover to the NRIs in general and NRIs based in the Gulf region, the Minister said. According to him, most of the Indians working abroad were under-insured and the proposed broad-based insurance cover would help them substantially.

The Minister said Pravasi Bharatiya Divas 2006 would focus on establishing an institutional framework for sustainable engagement with the overseas Indians. The framework would pull in overseas Indians as knowledge partners, the States as stakeholder partners and the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs as a facilitator, he said.

The Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, would inaugurate the three-day forum.