My family makes yearly trips to India as we have family ties there. We carry some Indian rupees with us when we return to Singapore so we can use them for our next trip.

To our dismay, we are now stuck with 500-rupee and 1,000-rupee notes as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has banned them ("Scramble as India scraps large banknotes"; Nov 11).

I am sure there are many Singaporeans like me who have been disadvantaged by the surprise move, which is meant to stop the flow of "black money" in India.

If frequent visitors to India like me had been given notice, we would have taken appropriate measures.

Could the Monetary Authority of Singapore or the relevant agencies throw some light on this matter ("Guidance needed on exchanging rupees in S'pore" by Mr Sam Vijaya; Nov 16)?

As there is a time limit to exchanging large banknotes for smaller ones, and this can be carried out only in India, would Singapore banks that have ties in India be able to assist affected customers?

V. Balu