for idr. the finance minister too, in his budget speech, has proposed a liberal and ambitious depository receipt scheme styled bharat depository scheme ( bhdr ). i am sure this is going to give a quantum fillip to the indian capital markets. 18. speaking here before an assembly of predominantly non - resident indians, i shall be failing in my duty if i do not mention the foreign exchange framework as it relates to the nris. at the outset, i must pay my encomium to indian diaspora for its support to the indian economy in its moments of need. it is the buoyant remittances from the hardworking indians that provided the first glimmer of hope during the gloomy 1970 ’ s when the acute foreign exchange crisis almost stalled the indian development story. as i have mentioned earlier, it still provides a much needed support to india ’ s balance of payments. 19. the regulatory framework for foreign exchange has also always recognised the contributions of the diaspora. in the early stages when the access to the indian economy was rather restrictive for non - residents, the nris enjoyed a preferential regime in investment, bank deposits, etc. with gradual opening up of the indian economy and financial liberalisation, some of the preferential treatment has become superfluous but still many remain. for instance, an nri individual can invest up to 5 % of the outstanding stock of a company through the portfolio investment scheme and has unlimited access to the debt securities at par with a resident indian. bis central bankers ’ speeches 20. for the large number of indian migrant workers, remittance home is extremely important. over the years, we have enabled multiple channels to provide easy and efficient remittance facility both for the remitter and the receiver. apart from the traditional banking channel, the exchange houses and money transfer service agents have been handling the large volume of remittances. if kyc requirement at both ends is sometimes viewed as onerous, we must bear in mind that we live in difficult times and measures like kyc is a price we pay for the safety and security of our society. at the same time we took a series of measures towards electronification of the payment systems in india. today payment to india and across india happens in matter of seconds in a safe and secure manner. secondly, we are proactively enabling alternate payment methods so that you are not required to carry or use physical cash. 21. i understand that acquisition of im

a lag. but the strong inward migration turned to outward migration once the resources cycle turned and incomes declined too. housing construction continued past the turn in the cycle, contributing to the price dynamics that i will come to shortly. one reason for highlighting the differences in construction cycles between the east and the west coast is to illustrate the point that these differences occurred across the country despite the same interest rate prevailing. this means that it is not just interest rates that matter for housing. other fundamentals such as population growth, incomes and lags on the supply side were important drivers of the construction and price cycles. that said, interest rates cost of finance is an important consideration. do play an important role ; the residential construction grew from 2012 to be 6 per cent of gdp at the beginning of 2016 and stayed around there for the next three years. this was its highest share of the economy since 2006. while the supply response to the increase in population growth in the mid 2000s took some time, in the end it did come. the increase in supply has worked to address the increased demand. hence it is not surprising to the see construction activity decline, particularly when it is combined with a decline in demand from foreigners, as well as from domestic investors in a market where prices were falling and facing tighter credit conditions. since september 2018, residential construction activity has declined by 9 per cent. the decline has been broad - based across detached and higher - density housing, as well as spending on renovations ( alterations and additions in national accounts terminology ). nevertheless, the pipeline of work to be done remains at a high level, particularly for higher - density projects in new south wales and victoria, though it has declined in most states ( graph 2 ). https : / / www. rba. gov. au / speeches / 2019 / sp - dg - 2019 - 10 - 17. html 3 / 17 10 / 17 / 2019 housing and the economy | speeches | rba graph 2 given the large size of the pipeline, we had expected construction activity to remain at a pretty high level for most of this year, but it turned down sooner and by more than we had expected. the fall has been larger in higher - density than in detached, but still sizeable in each. even so, much of the downturn in construction activity is still ahead. building approvals are around 40 per cent lower than their peak in late 2017 ( graph 3 ). https : / / www. rba. gov. au / speeches