Authorized dealers can release foreign exchange up to USD 25,000 for a business trip to any country other than Nepal and Bhutan. Release of foreign exchange exceeding USD 25,000 for a travel abroad (other than Nepal and Bhutan) for business purposes, irrespective of period of stay, requires prior permission from Reserve Bank. Visits in connection with attending of an international conference, seminar, specialised training, study tour, apprentice training, etc., are treated as business visits. Visit abroad for medical treatment and/or check up also falls within this category.

Ans: Indian Financial System Code (IFSC) is an alpha-numeric code that uniquely identifies a bank-branch participating in the NEFT system. It is a 11-digit code with the first 4 alpha characters representing the bank, and the last 6 characters representing the branch. The 5th character is 0 (zero). IFSC is used by the NEFT system to identify the originating / destination banks / branches and also to route the messages appropriately to the concerned banks / branches.

The applicant has to be a company registered under the Companies Act, 1956/ Companies Act 2013/ Registration of Companies (Sikkim) Act, 1961, having a minimum Net Owned Funds (NOF) of INR 25 lakh to apply for a single-branch FFMC licence and INR 50 lakh to apply for a multiple-branch FFMC licence.

ECS Credit payments can be initiated by any institution (called ECS Credit User) which needs to make bulk or repetitive payments to a number of beneficiaries. The institutional User has to first register with an ECS Centre. The User has to also obtain the consent of beneficiaries (i.e., the recipients of salary, pension, dividend, interest etc.) and get their bank account particulars prior to participation in the ECS Credit scheme. ECS Credit payments can be put through by the ECS User only through his / her bank (known as the Sponsor bank). ECS Credits are afforded to the beneficiary account holders (known as destination account holders) through the beneficiary account holders’ bank (known as the destination bank). The beneficiary account holders are required to give mandates to the user institutions to enable them to afford credit to their bank accounts through the ECS Credit mechanism.

All Scheduled Commercial Banks, Regional Rural Banks and Scheduled Primary Co-operative Banks are covered under the Scheme.

Differential rates of interest can be paid onsingle depositof Rs.15 lakhs and above and not on the aggregate of individual deposits where such total exceeds Rs.15 lakhs.

Non-competitive bids will be allowed upto 5 percent of the notified amount in the specified auctions of dated securities.

Yes. But ADs (banks) should ensure that the funds to be repatriated outside India were either received from abroad or are of repatriable in nature or are permissible in terms of RBI notification No.FEMA.13/2000 dated 3rd May 2000.

Authorised dealers are free to decide the documentation, as also any other information (including declaration), required by them, to satisfy themselves, before effecting the remittance. They should, however, call for the following documents viz. A certificate from a Chartered Accountant certifying that the applicant exporter satisfies the criteria of having export earning of at least Rs.10 lakhs, during each of the preceding two years, The C.A. certificate as at (a) above is not necessary, in case the export earnings prescribed (i.e. minimum Rs.10 lakhs in each of the previous two years), have been realised through the same authorised dealer, through whom the remittance is sought to be made. A Chartered Accountant’s certificate should also be obtained, certifying that the remittance represents advertisement charges incurred by the advertiser towards telecast in foreign countries and not in India alone. The certificate will have to be obtained for each remittance. Authorised dealers should, before allowing the remittances, obtain from the remitter an undertaking and a C.A. certificate in the format as prescribed in the CBDT circular No.10/2002 dated October 9, 2002. [c.f. A.P. (DIR Series) Circular No.56 dated November 26, 2002).

Banks have been allowed to convert the balance in the account at the time of departure of the tourists into foreign currency provided the account has been maintained for a period not exceeding six months and the account has not been credited with any local funds, other than interest accrued thereon.