Foreign investment in India is governed by sub-section (3) of section 6 of the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 read with Notification No. FEMA 20/2000-RB dated May 3, 2000, as amended from time to time. The regulatory framework and instructions issued by the Reserve Bank have been compiled in this Master Circular. The list of underlying circulars/notifications is furnished in Appendix. In addition to the above, this Master Circular also covers the area of ‘Investment in capital of partnership firms or proprietary concern’ which is regulated in terms of section 2(h) and section 47 of Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999, read with Notification No. FEMA 24/2000-RB dated May 3, 2000.
Money Transfer Service Scheme (MTSS) is a quick and easy way of transferring personal remittances from abroad to beneficiaries in India. Only inward personal remittances into India such as remittances towards family maintenance and remittances favouring foreign tourists visiting India are permissible. No outward remittance from India is permissible under MTSS.
Please refer to the Master Circular RBI/2010-11/70 DBOD. No.Ret.BC.23/ 12.01.001/2010-11 dated July 01, 2010 updating instructions/guidelines issued to the Scheduled Commercial Banks (SCBs) on CRR/SLR till June 30, 2010. The Master Circular has been suitably updated by incorporating the instructions issued on the subject up to June 30, 2011. A copy of the updated Master Circular is enclosed. The Master Circular has also been placed on the RBI website (http://www.rbi.org.in).
Please refer to our letter DBS.CO. FrMC BC No. 2/23.04.001/2009-10 dated July 01, 2010 forwarding therewith Master Circular on ‘Frauds – Classification & Reporting’. It may be noted that the Master Circular consolidates and updates all the instructions issued during the year since the date of the last Master Circular dated July 01, 2010. The Master Circular also incorporates instructions contained in certain clarifications issued by RBI to banks during the course of the year. The Master Circular has been updated as on June 30, 2011 and has been placed on the web-site of the Reserve Bank of India (www.rbi.org.in).
Please refer to the Master Circular DBOD.BP.BC.No.3/21.04.018/2010-11 dated July 1, 2010 consolidating all operative instructions issued to banks till June 30, 2010 on matters relating to disclosures in the ‘Notes to Accounts’ to the Financial Statements. The Master Circular has now been suitably updated by incorporating instructions issued upto June 30, 2011. The Master Circular has also been placed on the RBI web-site (http://www.rbi.org.in).
The guidelines for issue of new FFMC licence and renewal of FFMC licence, branch licensing, approval for appointment of agents/franchisees and Know Your Customer (KYC)/Anti Money Laundering (AML)/Combating the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) Guidelines for Authorised Persons are given below. These guidelines are indicative and the Reserve Bank may take into account other relevant factors like increase in outreach, location, etc. while considering applications for licences.
Foreign Exchange Derivative Contracts, Overseas Commodity & Freight Hedging, Rupee Accounts of Non-Resident Banks, Inter-Bank Foreign Exchange Dealings, etc. are governed by the provisions in Notification No. FEMA 1/2000-RB, Regulation 4(2) of Notification No. FEMA 3/RB-2000 and Notification No. FEMA 25/RB-2000 dated May 3, 2000 and subsequent amendments thereto. This Master Circular consolidates the existing instructions on the subject of Risk Management and Inter-Bank Dealings at one place. The list of underlying circulars/notifications is set out in Appendix.
Direct investments by residents in Joint Venture (JV) and Wholly Owned Subsidiary (WOS) abroad are being allowed, in terms of clause (a) of sub-section (3) of section 6 of the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (42 of 1999) read with FEMA Notification 120/RB-2004 dated July 7, 2004, (GSR 757(E) dated November 19, 2004), viz. Foreign Exchange Management (Transfer or Issue of any Foreign Security) Regulations, 2004, as amended from time to time.
A sole holder or all the joint holders (investors) of a Relief/Savings Bond other than in the form of promissory note or bearer bond may nominate one or more persons who in the event of death of the sole holder/all the joint holders, as the case may be, would be entitled to the Relief/Savings Bond and to the payment thereon, provided that the person or each of the persons nominated is himself / herself competent to hold a similar bond.
DBOD.No.FID.FIC.1/01.02.00/2011-12 The process of reforms in the Indian financial sector since the early nineties has had profound implications for the resource raising of all India Financial Institutions (FIs). With the gradual phasing out of funding to the FIs from the Long-Term Operations (LTO) Funds of the RBI and the discontinuance of the system of allocation of SLR bonds to them, FIs have been raising resources from the market by issuing bonds (both through public and privately placed issues). Some of the FIs being statutory bodies were seeking the approval from the SEBI while others being limited companies were seeking approval from the RBI for raising long term resources through bonds from the market.
