Hon'ble Judges/Coram:
A.M. Khanwilkar and Ajay Rastogi

JUDGMENT

A.M. Khanwilkar, J.

1. The Respondent is a limited company incorporated in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It is engaged in offering, among others, remittance services for transferring amounts from UAE to various places in India. It had applied for a permission Under Section 29(1)(a) of the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1973 (for short, "the 1973 Act"), pursuant to which approval was granted by the Reserve Bank of India (for short, "the RBI") vide letter dated 24.9.1996. The same reads thus:

"Telegrams "RESERVE BANK" BOMBAY Please quote Ref. in Reply

RESERVE BANK OF INDIA EXCHANGE CONTROL DEPARTMENT CENTRAL OFFICE CENTRAL OFFICE BUILDING BOMBAY-400 023.

Post Box No. 1055 Fax No.: 022-2665330 022-2654121

Ref. No. EC Co. FID(I)/137/10-I-05-02/3975 (Activity)/96-97

BY AIR MAIL/REGISTERED A.D.

U.A.E. Exchange Centre L.L.C., Post Box 170, Abu Dhabi, UAE.

24 Sep 1996

Dear Sirs,

Permission Under Section 29(1)(a) of the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1973 for opening a liaison office in India

Please refer to your application dated Nil and the correspondence resting with your letter Ref. UAEEC/HO/479/96 dated 9^th August, 1996 on the captioned subject.

2. We advise that we are agreeable to your establishing a liaison office at Cochin initially for a period of three years to enable you to i) respond quickly and economically to enquiries from correspondent banks with regard to suspected fraudulent drafts, ii) to undertake reconciliation of bank accounts held in India, iii) to act as a communication centre receiving computer (via Modem) advices of mail transfer T.T. stop payments messages, payments details etc., originating from your several branches in UAE and transmitting to your Indian correspondent banks, iv) Printing Indian Rupee drafts with facsimile signature from the Head Office and counter signature by the authorised signatory of the Office at Co........