Transfer of assets by foreign liaison or branch offices requires central approval; delegated powers remain limited.
AD Category I banks may continue to exercise delegated powers for Annual Activity Certificates, LO validity extensions and closures, but they do not have delegated authority to transfer assets of BO/LO. Any transfer or assignment of Liaison Office or Branch Office assets to subsidiaries, other BO/LO or any other entity requires specific approval of the Central Office of the Foreign Exchange Department, Reserve Bank of India; all other aspects of the earlier delegation remain unchanged.

Risk-based AML/KYC obligations require agents under money transfer schemes to assess ML/TF risk and apply enhanced due diligence.
Authorised Persons (Indian Agents) under MTSS must implement a risk-based KYC/AML/CFT framework: identify and assess ML/TF risk across customers, countries, products, services, transactions and channels; prepare customer profiles for regular inward remittances; apply enhanced due diligence to medium/high risk cases; adopt board-approved policies, controls and procedures; design risk parameters for transaction monitoring; and ensure sub-agents comply, consistent with prior AML guidelines and statutory authority.

Risk-based AML assessment required for money changers, mandating customer, product and geographic risk profiling and enhanced due diligence.
Authorised Persons in money changing must adopt a risk based approach to AML/CFT by identifying and assessing ML/TF risks across customers, countries, products, services, transactions and delivery channels, preparing customer risk profiles, applying enhanced due diligence for medium and high risk, and implementing board approved policies, systems and procedures. APs may design risk parameters for transaction monitoring and are responsible for ensuring agents and franchisees comply with these requirements.

External commercial borrowings eligibility expanded to NMIZ developers, enabling approval-route ECB for infrastructure projects immediately.
Developers of NMIZ are permitted to avail of External Commercial Borrowings under the approval route to provide specified infrastructure within NMIZ, matching the extant ECB scope (power, telecom, railways, roads, ports, airports, industrial parks, urban infrastructure, mining/refining/exploration, cold storage). The change is effective immediately; other ECB parameters (recognised lenders, maturity, all-in-cost, prepayment, refinancing and reporting) remain unchanged and the directions are issued under the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999.

FETERS reporting revisions require transaction level purpose coding and updated file formats, affecting AD banks' reporting obligations.
AD Category I banks must apply a revised purpose code classification aligned with BPM6 to all foreign exchange transactions from April 1, 2012, report previously consolidated small non export receipts at transaction level, adopt a 15 digit amount field and 6 digit port codes, and submit four prescribed ASCII files with specified layouts, naming conventions, inter file consistency checks and fortnightly electronic submission timelines to the Reserve Bank.

Gold loan tenor alignment: banks must match SBLC tenor to the Foreign Trade Policy prescribed loan period and comply promptly.
AD Category I banks must ensure the maximum tenor of gold loans follows the Foreign Trade Policy 2009-14 or subsequent government notifications, and the tenor of any SBLC for import of gold on loan basis must be aligned with the tenor of the gold loan; banks must notify their constituents and customers and note that other terms of the earlier circular remain changed.

Release of foreign exchange for imports liberalised; higher remittance threshold permits transactions with minimal documentation for current account payments.
Release of foreign exchange for imports was liberalised to permit authorised dealers to release foreign exchange for current account import payments without Form A-1 or other documentation, subject to the transaction not falling within the notified excluded schedules, the amount being within the prescribed ceiling, and payment being made by cheque drawn on the applicant's bank account or by demand draft; only a simple letter from the applicant containing name and address of applicant and beneficiary, amount and purpose is required.

Advance payment for long term exports permitted by banks subject to KYC, AML, bona fide use, and interest cap.
Authorised Dealer Category I banks may accept advance payment for exports involving shipment beyond one year if they complete KYC and due diligence on the overseas buyer, ensure anti money laundering compliance, verify that advances are used solely for executing the export, receive progress payments directly per contract, route shipping documents through the same authorised dealer, apply an interest cap linked to LIBOR, limit refund instances, and obtain prior regulatory approval before making refunds or interest payments when shipment cannot be made.

Softex procedure revision streamlines bulk certification and reporting for eligible software exporters, with STPI sample verification.
Eligible large software exporters may submit a consolidated SOFTEX statement in an excel template with quadruplicate SOFTEX copies to the nearest STPI; STPI will verify, perform percentage sample checks, certify on a Top Sheet and forward copies to RBI Regional Office, the Authorised Dealer, the exporter and retain one copy. Exporters must provide supporting documents on demand within prescribed timelines, include all invoices in the bulk statement, and use centrally allocated SOFTEX numbers as transaction control identifiers.

Reporting requirement for foreign-established branches acquiring immovable property: file Form IPI with RBI within ninety days.
Persons resident outside India who have established a branch, office or other place of business in India (excluding liaison offices) and who acquire immovable property must submit Form IPI to the Reserve Bank of India within ninety days of acquisition; Form IPI requires acquirer and property details, purpose, mode of acquisition, seller particulars, purchase price and source of funds, acquisition date, and Reserve Bank permission details, and must be filed in duplicate with certified copies of any RBI approvals obtained under the Act.

Cross border inward remittance agents must apply FATF guidance and enhance scrutiny for transfers involving high risk jurisdictions.
Authorised Persons under the Money Transfer Service Scheme must consider the FATF 28 October 2011 public statement identifying jurisdictions with strategic AML/CFT deficiencies, apply enhanced scrutiny and risk mitigation for cross border inward remittances, ensure their Sub agents adhere to these guidelines, notify constituents and Principal Officers, and acknowledge the circular; the directions are issued under FEMA and the PMLA.

Anti money laundering standards: authorised money changers must apply international risk guidance and ensure agent compliance.
Authorised persons in money changing activities are directed to consider the FATF public statement listing jurisdictions with strategic AML/CFT deficiencies and to apply enhanced, risk based vigilance to transactions and relationships with those jurisdictions. The guidance extends mutatis mutandis to agents and franchisees, making franchisers responsible for their compliance, requires acknowledgement by the Principal Officer, and is issued under domestic foreign exchange and anti money laundering statutory powers while not precluding legitimate transactions.

Establishment of project offices in India by foreign entities remains subject to prior RBI permission and regulatory compliance.
Establishment of project offices in India by foreign entities is permitted under general permission only when the entity complies with the regulatory prior permission requirements and all specified conditions; previously granted general permission is subject to continued adherence to those regulatory provisions, and Authorised Dealer Category I banks must inform their constituents accordingly.

Delegated approval for external commercial borrowing modifications allows designated banks to approve reductions and schedule changes subject to conditions.
Designated AD Category I banks are authorised to approve specified post LRN modifications to ECBs: reductions in loan amount (automatic route) with lender consent, maintained average maturity, and submitted monthly ECB 2 returns; drawdown schedule changes that reduce declared average maturity provided repayment schedule is unchanged, reduced maturity meets minimum requirements, cost changes stem only from maturity change, and ECB 2 returns are filed; and reductions in all in cost with lender consent and ECB 2 filings. Elongation/rollover beyond original maturity requires RBI approval. All approvals must comply with extant ECB guidelines and be reported to DSIM in Form 83.

Foreign contribution regulation: banks must ensure designated accounts, certify receipts and report specified remittances to authorities.
The Guidelines implement the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010 and Rules, 2011, obliging banks and authorised persons in foreign exchange to ensure compliance by persons receiving foreign contribution, to accept such contribution only into a single designated account through specified branches, to certify and report particulars of foreign remittances and to observe restrictions on transfer, utilisation and maintenance of accounts; the Rules set procedural requirements for registration, prior permission, reporting, public disclosure of large receipts, and vesting of unutilised funds after cancellation.

Special Currency Basket valuation revised; Rupee value fixed, effective January 20, 2012, under FEMA directions.
The circular revises the Special Currency Basket Rupee valuation originally notified earlier, fixes a new Rupee value and specifies the date it takes effect for conversion and settlement under the Deferred Payment Protocols; Category I Authorised Dealer banks are instructed to notify constituents, and the directions are issued under FEMA sections 10(4) and 11(1) without prejudice to other statutory permissions.

Fortnightly reporting requirement for Diamond Dollar Accounts requires banks to submit DDA balances to the central bank.
AD Category I banks must submit fortnightly statements of Diamond Dollar Account balances, in the annexed format, to the Reserve Bank within seven days of each fortnight's close; existing terms in preceding A.P. (DIR Series) circulars remain unchanged and the reporting is issued under statutory powers without prejudice to other legal permissions.

Rupee Vostro accounts: prior central approval dispensed for RDAs, banks may enter arrangements subject to guidelines and reporting.
Dispenses with the requirement of prior Reserve Bank approval for opening and maintaining each Rupee Vostro account of non-resident Exchange Houses in connection with Rupee Drawing Arrangements; AD Category I banks must seek initial approval the first time they enter into such an arrangement with Exchange Houses from specified jurisdictions, may subsequently enter RDAs subject to prescribed guidelines and must inform the Reserve Bank immediately. When total RDAs reach twenty the bank must obtain a detailed external audit and, if satisfactory, secure Board authorisation and file the Board Note and Resolution with the Reserve Bank before further arrangements.

FFMC licensing: removal of outreach and locational advantage criteria allows broader branch location flexibility under FEMA directions.
The circular removes the requirement to demonstrate increased outreach and locational advantage when assessing applications for fresh Full Fledged Money Changer (FFMC) licences, granting Authorised Persons greater flexibility in selecting branch locations, while all other instructions in the earlier Circular No.57 remain unchanged and the direction is issued under the Foreign Exchange Management Act.

Leverage ratio certification required: banks must certify IFC leverage when forwarding ECB proposals under the approval route.
Authorised Dealer Category I banks must certify the leverage ratio (outside liabilities/owned funds) of Infrastructure Finance Companies seeking ECBs under the approval route when forwarding proposals to the Reserve Bank. IFCs may obtain ECBs up to fifty per cent of owned funds under the automatic route; amounts above that require approval. ECB proceeds must be for on lending to infrastructure and IFCs must fully hedge currency risk; other ECB conditions remain unchanged.