FAQ on Furnishing Information to FIU-IND

Every Financial Institution regulated by Department of Non-Banking Supervision is required to get itself registered under FIU-IND (Financial Intelligence Unit-India).

Registering yourself from Reporting entity to Principal Officer and even after there are some other compliances which needs to be complied by every NBFC.

Here find below the FAQ on furnishing information to FIU-IND:

1. Which notification lays down procedures and manner for furnishing of information?

• Rules 7 and 8 of the Rules as notified by Notification No. 9/2005 dated 1st July 2005 read with Notification No.15/2005 dated 13th December 2005, Notification No. 4/2007 dated 24th May 2007 2005 and Notification No.12/2013 dated 17th Aug 2013 specify the procedure and manner for furnishing information.

2. What type of information is required to be furnished under PMLA?

• Every banking company, financial institution and intermediary is required to furnish information about –
• all cash transactions of the value of more than rupees ten lakhs or its equivalent in foreign currency;
• all series of cash transactions integrally connected to each other which have been valued below rupees ten lakhs or its equivalent in foreign currency where such series of transactions have taken place within a month;
• all cash transactions where forged or counterfeit currency notes or bank notes have been used as genuine or where any forgery of a valuable security or a document has taken place facilitating the transactions;
• all suspicious transactions whether or not made in cash;
• all cross border wire transfers of the value exceeding Rs.5 lakh or its equivalent in foreign currency where either the origin or destination of fund is in India;
• all purchase and sale of immovable property valued at Rs.50 lakh or more that is registered by the reporting entity.

3. Is there any standard format required to be used by reporting entity for furnishing information to the Director, FIU-IND?

• Every reporting entity is necessarily required to furnish information to Director, FIU-IND online in a standard format prescribed for the purpose by the Reserve Bank of India , Securities and Exchange Board of India,the Insurance Regulatory & Development Authority or other sector Regulators, as the case may be. For this purpose, the reporting entity has to register itself with FIU-IND using the portal https://finnet.gov.in.

4. Who has the responsibility to furnish information to Director, FIUIND?

• Every reporting entity is required by Rule 7 of the Rules notified by Notification No.9/2005 dated 1/7/2005 to designate an officer as Principal Officer for the purpose of PMLA, 2002, who will have the responsibility to furnish the information referred to in Rule 3 to the Director, FIU-IND on the basis of information available with the reporting entities. A copy of such information shall also be retained by the Principal Officer for the purpose of official record.

5. Who is a Principal Officer?

• Principal Officer is an officer designated by a reporting entity for the purpose of Section 12 of PMLA, 2002. Rule 7 of the Rules requires every reporting entity to communicate the name, designation and address of the Principal Officer to the Director.

6. Are there any time limits prescribed for furnishing information to Director, FIU-IND?

• Rule 8 of the Rules prescribes time limit for furnishing information to the Director, FIU-IND The time limit for furnishing information about cash transactions and integrally connected cash transactions to Director, FIU-IND is 15th day of the succeeding month:

All reports relating to cash transactions, counterfeit currency, non-profit organization transactions and cross border wire transfers have to be filed by the 15th day of the succedding month.

All suspicious transactions have to be furnished to the Director, FIU-IND not later than seven working days on being satisfied that the transaction is suspicious.

Special Note- NIL REPORTING FILLING:

For all Reporting Entities: Filling of ‘Nil’ CTR/NTR

There is an obligation on the ‘Reporting Entity’ to file CTR / NTR with FIU-IND under provisions of Sec 12(1)(b) of PMLA, 2002 read with Rule 3(A), 3(B) ,3(BA) and 8(1) of PML (Maintenance of Records) Rules. Although there is no specific requirement to file NIL reports, the matter has been reviewed in light of requests from some REs (Banks) that record of filing ‘Nil’ reports helps them during Regulatory / Internal audits. It is felt that this will also help FIU / Regulators in compliance monitoring. It has therefore been decided that a ‘banking company’ defined under Sec 2(e) of PMLA, 2002 is also required to file ‘Nil’ CTR / NTR henceforth with immediate effect. It may please be noted that the filing of ‘Nil’ CTR / NTR is restricted only to ‘banking company’ as stated above and all the other ‘reporting entities’ which do not substantially deal in cash transactions are exempt from filing of ‘Nil’ CTR / NTR, if they have nothing to report.