Flashback to 1999. A trip abroad would have meant the following: applying to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for foreign exchange (forex), getting it endorsed on the passport, and all the attendant bureaucracy. Cut to 2002. There is no need for permission to get forex up to $10,000 per year. One need not have to get the currency "listed" on the passport. Bank accounts can be opened to deposit forex... and credit cards can be used even on the Net for forex transactions. Forex was a forbidden word a few years back. FERA (Foreign Exchange Regulation Act) loomed large on the mind of anyone who even wanted some forex even for a private visit abroad. But ever since the Government of India replaced FERA with the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), a slew of deregulations have come through.