A.P. (DIR Series) Circular No.106 dated 1st June 2015, RBI has increased the limit under Liberalised Remittance Scheme for Resident Individuals from USD 125,000 to USD 250,000. Accordingly, AD Category –I banks may now allow remittances up to USD 250,000 per financial year, under the Scheme, for any permitted current or capital account transaction or a combination of both.

Eligibility:

All Resident individuals are eligible to avail of the facility under the scheme. This facility is not available to Corporates, Partnership firms, HUF, Trusts, etc.

Purpose:

This facility is available for making remittances up to USD 250,000/- per individual per financial year (April-March) for any current or Capital account transactions or a combination of both.

Capital Account transactions covered under LRS are as follow:

• Opening of Foreign Currency Account abroad with a bank
• Remittances for investment in Purchase of Property
• Remittance towards Investments abroad (both listed and unlisted shares of an overseas company or debt instruments)
• Investment in units of Mutual Funds, Venture Capital Funds, unrated debt securities, promissory notes;
• Set up Joint Ventures (JV) / Wholly Owned Subsidiaries (WOS) by individuals outside India for bona-fide business activities outside India (with effect from August 5, 2013), Investment in Indian Depositories Receipts (IDRs)- Refer all these cases to your nearest Trade desk only
• Extending loans including loans in Indian Rupees to Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) who are relatives as defined in Companies Act, 2013.

RBI has also brought the following purposes mentioned in the Schedule III under the umbrella of LRS:

• Private visits to any country (except Nepal and Bhutan);
• Gift or Donation;
• Going abroad for employment;
• Emigration;
• Maintenance of close relatives abroad;
• Travel for business, or attending a conference or specialized training or for meeting expenses for meeting medical expenses, or check-up abroad, or for accompanying as attendant to a patient going abroad for medical treatment/check-up;
• Expenses in connection with medical treatment abroad;
• Studies abroad;
• Any other current account transaction

1. Travel to Nepal and or Bhutan  

2. Transaction with a person resident in Nepal or Bhutan directly or indirectly 

3. Remittance out of lottery winnings  

4. Remittance of Income from Racing / riding etc. or any other hobby.  

5. Remittance for purchases of Lottery tickets, banned or prescribed magazines, football pools, sweep stakes, schemes involving money circulation, securing prize money awards etc.  

6. Payment of commission on exports made towards equity investments in joint ventures / wholly owned subsidiaries abroad of Indian Companies  

7. Remittance of dividend by any company to which the requirement of dividend balancing is applicable.  

8. Payment of commission on export under rupee state credit route except commission up to 10% in invoice value of exports of Tea & Tobacco.  

9. Payment related to “Call back services” or telephones.  

10. Remittance of interest income on funds held in non-resident special rupee a/c schemes.  

11. Remittance from India for margins or margin calls to overseas exchanges / overseas counterparty.  

12. Remittances for purchase of FCCBs issued by Indian companies in the overseas secondary market.  

13. Remittance for trading in foreign exchange abroad.  

14. Capital account remittances, directly or indirectly, to countries identified by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) as “non-cooperative countries and territories”, from time to time.  

15. Remittances directly or indirectly to those individuals and entities identified as posing significant risk of committing acts of terrorism as advised separately by the Reserve Bank to the banks. 

16. Rupee Loan to NRI Close Relative towards invest in any of the below prohibited by RBI: 

• The business of chit fund, or 
• Nidhi Company, or  
• Agricultural or plantation activities or in real estate business, or construction of farmhouses, or  
• Trading in Transferable Development Rights (TDRs). 

17. Any item restricted under Schedule II of Foreign Exchange Management (Current Account Transactions) Rules, 2000 

The 3 Preconditions set by RBI for making remittance under LRS:

• PAN card is mandatory to make remittances under LRS.
• Remitter’s Account should be at least One year old, if not then the Remitter is required to produce the bank statement of his / her account of another bank for cumulative period of 12 months. If such a bank statement is not available, copies of the latest Income Tax Assessment Order or Return filed by the applicant may be obtained.
• For remittances pertaining to permissible current account transactions, if the applicant seeking to make the remittance is a new customer of the bank, Authorized Dealers should carry out due diligence on the opening, operation and maintenance of the account;
• The remitter should use Owned Funds and not from any type of Loan Account for making such remittance under LRS (for capital account transactions only).

From 1st October 2013, as per the circular no. 2659(E) dated 2nd September 2013, from Ministry of Finance, for certain FX and Trade transactions, submission of Form No. 15CA and CB has been made mandatory Except the purpose code listed below - Contact your branch for further details.

International Credit Cards can be used for:

• Meeting expenses or making purchases while abroad without any limit.
• Making payments in foreign exchange for purchase of books and other items through the Internet.
• Residents holding a foreign currency account in India or with an overseas bank, are free to obtain ICCs issued by overseas banks and other reputed agencies.

As per RBI circular No 46 dated September 17, 2013, it has been clarified that overseas forex trading through digital trading portals, in respect of the margin payments being made by their customer for online forex trading transactions( directly /Indirectly ) through their credit cards / Net Banking is prohibited form of transaction

Foreign exchange up to US$ 2,000, in the form of foreign currency notes or travellers' cheques (TCs) can be retained indefinitely for future use. Amounts in excess of $2000 (Excluding Coins) have to be surrendered to a bank within 180 days of return or credited to RFC (D) account. Foreign coins can be retained indefinitely without any limit.

Residents can open Resident Foreign Currency (Domestic) Account with a bank in India for crediting:

• Unspent balances after travel abroad
• Currency, TCs, bank drafts received as gifts from or for services rendered to non-resident while in India
• Foreign exchange earnings received, through banking channel, as honorarium, consultancy, royalty, for any services or towards exports of goods
• RFC (D) accounts are NOT interest bearing, and there is no ceiling on the balances that can be built up in these accounts. The balances held in these accounts can be used for any purpose for which foreign exchange can be bought from a bank in India. 

Click here to know how to open an RFC Domestic account.

Out of the overall foreign exchange being sold to a traveler, exchange in the form of foreign currency notes and coins may be sold up to the limit indicated below:

• Travellers proceeding to countries other than Iraq, Islamic Republic of Iran, Russian Federation and other Republics of Commonwealth of Independent States - not exceeding USD 3000 or its equivalent.

• Travellers proceeding to Iraq - not exceeding USD 5000 or its equivalent.

• Travellers proceeding to Islamic Republic of Iran, Russian Federation and other Republics of Commonwealth of Independent States - full exchange may be released.

**Not applicable for travel to Nepal & Bhutan 

Know more about Forex Card offered by HDFC Bank