current or capital account transactions or a combination of both. this would also include remittances towards gift and donation, acquisition of houses, shares, mfs, etc. • residents are eligible to obtain usd 100, 000 or its equivalent for medical treatment abroad. a person visiting abroad for medical treatment can obtain foreign exchange exceeding the above limit, provided the request is supported by an estimate from a hospital / doctor in india / abroad. • in connection with private visits abroad, viz., for tourism purposes, etc., foreign exchange up to usd10, 000, in any one financial year may be obtained by residents from an authorised dealer on a self - declaration basis. • a resident can transfer property to his nri heirs by a deed of settlement i. e. facility whereby the property is passed on to the legatees, during the lifetime of the owner / parent who normally retains a life interest in the property. • housing loans taken by nris can be repaid by his close relatives in india. • resident power of attorney holder can remit funds out of the balances in nre account to the non - resident account holder provided specific powers for the purpose has been given. • banks can also allow operations on an nro account in terms of such a power of attorney, provided such operations are restricted to ( i ) all local payments in rupees including payments for eligible investments and ( ii ) remittance outside india of current income in india of the non - resident individual account holder, net of applicable taxes. monitoring of customer service reserve bank is continuously taking steps to ensure that customers get treated fairly. the quality of service rendered by banks is monitored by reserve bank with special emphasis on service rendered by banks to pensioners. banks have been advised to include senior citizens in their branch level customer service committees. any non observance of the rbi guidelines or bank ’ s code of commitment to the individual customer can be taken up first with the bank ’ s own consumer redressal machinery and if no satisfactory response is obtained by the customer he can complain to the reserve bank ’ s banking ombudsmen who have offices at 15 centres, details of which are available on the bank ’ s website. some tips to the senior citizen some tips to the senior citizen • obtain from bank and read the bcsbi's code of banks'commitment to customers. • clearly understand the concept “ average quarterly balance ” before opening accounts. • do not keep the card and its

in the recent period. ( i ) senior citizens savings scheme government of india had launched the senior citizens savings scheme, 2004 ( scss ) with attractive interest rate exclusively for the benefit of senior citizens, with effect from august 2, 2004. scss accounts can be opened with post offices and agency banks. the salient features of the scheme are available in the rbi ’ s website. an important advice to senior citizens is to fill in form 15 g and 15h, if they do not attract tds provisions. ( ii ) senior citizen friendly measures – investment in government securities several friendly measures for senior citizens have been incorporated in the government securities act, 2006 ( act ) and the government securities regulations, 2007 ( regulations ), which have come into force with effect from december 1, 2007. these include • automatic redemption facility for government securities, including relief / savings bond. • simplified procedure in the event of death of holder. • ability to pledge or borrow against such securities. • nomination is permitted. ( iii ) facilities for pensioners almost all the pensioners, by virtue of the retirement age fixed by the government, are senior citizens. the following facilities, among other, are available to pensioners : • credit of pension to pensioners ’ accounts on last 4 days of month so that the pensioner can draw pension on the 1st day of the next month itself. • joint account with spouse allowed. • pension slips to be issued at first time and thereafter whenever there is a change. • for incapacitated pensioners – branch to depute an officer to the residence of the pensioner for getting / certifying the life certificate. • banks to access the government website and effect payment of revised dearness relief without waiting for rbi instructions. • banks to accept nominations furnished by pensioners in form “ a ” or “ b ” in respect of payment of arrears of pension of the deceased pensioner. rbi has issued necessary instructions to all the banks disbursing pension to ensure that the pensioners get the best possible customer service. most of the agency banks have since set up centralised pension processing centres ( cppcs ) which will be responsible for receipt of the pension payment orders ( ppos ), calculation of pension / dearness relief etc. and crediting the amount directly to the pensioners ’ accounts through this system. ( iv ) deposit scheme for senior citizens banks have been permitted to formulate, with the approval of their boards, fixed deposit schemes specifically for