Will the Reserve Bank of India honour the Press Note No 7 (2015 series) dated 18.6.2015 issued by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry thereby treating the investments made by the NRIs will be considered at par with Investments made by Resident Indians?

Will the Reserve Bank of India honour the Press Note No 7 (2015 series) dated 18.6.2015 issued by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry thereby treating the investments made by the NRIs will be considered at par with Investments made by Resident Indians?

There is always ambiguity when the NRIs invest in Indian companies from their NRO account or from their Indian bank accounts, whether there is a need to report such investments to RBI or not?

To obviate the ambiguity on the subject, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry of Government of India came out with a Press Note No 7 (2015 series) dated 18.6.2015 issued by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry treats investments by NRIs under schedule 4 of FEMA (Transfer or Issue of Security by Persons Residents Outside India) Regulations  and it will be deemed to be domestic investment at par with investment made by residents.

Press Note also says a copy forwarded to, among others, RBI for suitably incorporating the policy changes in FEMA (Transfer or Issue of Security by Persons Residents outside India) Regulations 2000 and relevant schedules thereof.

However, necessary modification in the Regulations is not yet issued by Reserve Bank of India  as on date as one can learn from by the latest Regulations down loaded from RBI web site.

RBI officials at various branches also say RBI has not accepted Press Note. This is really perplexing!!!

When Prime Minister of India, Mr. Modiji is more interested in NRIs investments in India as proclaimed by him in the recent NRIs Meet at Bengaluru , the attitude of Reserve Bank of India is not tune with the Prime Minister’s anticipations, aspirations and policies.

Will the Reserve Bank of India will come with the immediate notification in confirming the Press Note No 7 (2015 series) dated 18.6.2015 issued by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry  thereby treating the  investment by NRIs from their NROs accounts or from their Indian bank accounts as investment under non-repatriation basis and will be treated as similar to investments by Indian residents.

It is to be noted when NRIs have transferred the FDI amount from their NRE accounts and if specifically express that they are making the investments with the repatriation benefits , then , investee companies in India , has to report the same to RBI under FEMA.

This will remove doubts on the subject that such investments ( NRIs NRO account or from their Indian bank accounts)  will not require any reporting formalities such as ARF or FC-GPR by investee companies in India.

Will the RBI clarify on the subject on war footing basis?