Thursday, June 16, 2011

Disinvestment by the Indian Parties of their stake in an overseas JV/WOS involving write-off

Disinvestment by the Indian Parties of their stake in an overseas JV/WOS involving write-off

(a) Currently, in terms of Regulation 16 of the Notification No. FEMA 120/RB-2004 dated July 7, 2004, as amended from time to time, all disinvestment involving ‘write off’, i.e., where the amount repatriated on disinvestment is less than the amount of original investment, need prior approval of the Reserve Bank. In terms of A.P. (DIR Series) Circular No. 29 dated March 27, 2006 it was decided to allow the under-noted categories of disinvestment under the Automatic Route without prior approval of the Reserve Bank, subject to the following conditions:

i) In cases where the JV/WOS is listed in the overseas stock exchange;
ii) In cases where the Indian promoter company is listed on a stock exchange in India and has a net worth of not less than Rs.100 crore; and
iii) Where the Indian promoter company is an unlisted company and the investment in the overseas venture does not exceed USD 10 million.


In partial modification of the above, it has now been decided to include listed Indian promoter companies with net worth of less than Rs.100 crore and investment in an overseas JV/WOS not exceeding USD 10 million, for disinvestment under the Automatic Route with the requirement that the Indian Party shall report the disinvestment through its designated AD Category I bank within 30 days from the date of disinvestment.


(b) It is also clarified that disinvestment cases falling under the Automatic Route would also include cases where the amount repatriated after disinvestment is less than the original amount invested, provided the corporate falls under the above mentioned categories.

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