Indel Money, a gold loan company, announced on Oct 3 that it had received an Authorised Dealer (AD) Category-II license from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to begin foreign exchange business such as the conversion of foreign currency bank notes, travel money cards and undertaking outward remittances that fall within the scope of the license.

The goal of giving such licenses is to make foreign cash conversion easier for travelers and visitors, particularly Non-Resident Indians (NRI), by expanding the country's network of money-changing facilities.

RBI issues authorization under Section 10(1) of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) to select entities as AD Category-II to carry out specified non-trade related current account transactions, all the activities permitted to the Full-Fledged Money Changers (FFMC) and any other activity as decided by the central bank.

"It is a significant milestone in the company's journey as we are the second systemically important non-deposit-taking NBFC in the country to get such a license," stated Umesh Mohanan, ED and CEO of Indel Money, of this development. It also allows us to investigate the foreign currency services industry, which has continually shown exceptional development, particularly in the post-Covid era."

The AD Category-II foreign exchange licence is superior to the ordinary money exchange license because it includes additional features such as facilitating outward (international) remittances to non-trade current account transactions and transacting in multi-currency travel money cards and foreign currency banknotes.