No fresh permission/renewal of permission to
LOs of foreign law firms- Supreme Court’s directions
This circular states that, till the final disposal of the matter by the Honorable Supreme Court of India: –
1. Foreign law firms that have been granted permission prior to the date of interim order for opening Liaison Office (LO) in India are permitted to continue till the date such permission is still in force.
2. No fresh permission / renewal of permission will be granted by RBI / banks.
36] A. P. (DIR Series) Circular No. 24 dated 29th October, 2015
Notification No. FEMA. 353 /2015-RB dated October 6, 2015 Subscription to National Pension System by Non-Resident Indians (NRIs)
This circular permits NRI to subscribe to
National Pension System governed and administered by Pension Fund
Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA), provided
the subscriptions are made through normal banking channels or out of
funds held in their NRE / FCNR / NRO account and the person is eligible
to invest as per the
provisions of the PFRDA Act.
There are no restrictions on repatriation of the annuity / accumulated
savings and hence, the annuity / accumulated saving will be repatriable.
37] A. P. (DIR Series) Circular No. 26 dated 5th November, 2015
Notification No FEMA.347/2015-RB dated July 24, 2015 Switching from Barter Trade to Normal Trade at the Indo-Myanmar Border
This circular provides that with effect from 1st December, 2015 all trade at the Indo-Myanmar border will be as per normal trade route i.e. payments can be settled in any permitted currency in addition to the Asian Clearing Union mechanism. As a result, no trade on the barter system basis will be permitted from 1st December, 2015.
38] A. P. (DIR Series) Circular No. 27 dated 5th November, 2015
Software Export – Filing of bulk SOFTEX-further liberalisation
Presently, software exporters with an annual turnover of at least Rs.1,000 crore or who file at least 600 SOFTEX forms annually on an all India basis, are eligible to declare all the off-site software exports in bulk in the form of a statement in excel format, to the competent authority for certification on monthly basis.
This circular has extended that facility to all software exporters. Hence, all software exporters can now file single as well as bulk SOFTEX form in excel format with the competent authority for certification in the SOFTEX form Annexed to this circular.
Software exporters are required to submit the SOFTEX form induplicate as per the revised procedure. STPI / SEZ will retain one copy and handover the duplicate copy to the exporters after due certification. Software exporters can generate SOFTEX form number (single as well as bulk) for use in off-site software exports from the website of RBI viz., www.rbi.org.in. In order to generate the SOFTEX number/s, an online application form Annexed to this circular has to be filled in.
39] A. P. (DIR Series) Circular No. 28 dated 5th November, 2015
Risk Management & Inter-Bank Dealings: Relaxation of facilities for residents for hedging of foreign currency borrowings
Presently, residents having a long term foreign currency liability are permitted to hedge, with a bank in India, their exchange rate and/or interest rate risk exposure by undertaking a foreign currency-INR swap to move from a foreign currency liability to a rupee liability.
This circular now permits residents to enter in to FCY-INR swaps with Multilateral or International Financial Institutions (MFI / IFI) in which the Government of India is a shareholding member subject to the following terms and conditions: –
(i) Such swap transactions must be undertaken by the MFI / IFI concerned on a back-to-back basis with a bank in India.
(ii) Banks can face, for the purpose of the swap, only those Multilateral Financial Institutions (MFIs) and International Financial Institutions (IFIs) in which Government of India is a shareholding member.
(iii) The FCY-INR swaps must have a minimum tenor of 3 years.
(iv) All other operational guidelines, terms and conditions relating to FCY-INR swaps as laid down in A.P. (DIR Series) Circular No. 32 dated 28th December, 2010, as amended from time to time, shall apply, mutatis mutandis.
(v) In case of default by the resident borrower on its swap obligations, the MFI / IFI concerned must bring in foreign currency funds to meet its corresponding liabilities to the counterparty bank in India.
(vi) Banks have to report the FCY-INR swaps transactions entered into with the MFI / IFI on a back-to-back basis on CCIL reporting platform.
