INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL SERVICES CENTRES AUTHORITY NOTIFICATION Gandhinagar, the 5th July, 2021 IFSCA/2021-22/GN/REG013.- In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (1) of section 28 read with sub-section (1) of Section 12 and sub-section (1) of Section 13 of the International Financial Services Centres Authority Act, 2019, the International Financial Services Centres Authority hereby makes the following regulations, further to amend the International Financial Services Cent... ... ...

Banking activities in International Financial Services Centres are expanded to permit banking units to offer Portfolio Management services and Investment Advisory services to persons resident in India and persons resident outside India. These activities are inserted into the permitted activities framework under the International Financial Services Centres Authority (Banking) Regulations, 2020, with effect upon publication in the Official Gazette.

SHRI BHAVNESH SAINI, JUDICIAL MEMBER AND SHRI L.P. SAHU, ACCOUNTANT MEMBER For the Assessee : Shri Suresh Malik, CA For the Department : Shri Ved Prakash Mishra, Sr. DR ORDER This is an appeal filed by the assessee against the order of Ld. CIT(Appeals)- 42 New Delhi vide order dated 24.8.2015 pertaining to assessment year 2010-11 on the following ground of appeal :- (a) "On the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the learned CIT(Appeals) has erred, both on the facts ... ... ...

Regulation 22 supersedes the specified Reserve Bank circular from commencement of the International Financial Services Centres Authority (Banking) Regulations, 2020. Actions taken or purportedly taken under that circular are preserved and deemed taken under corresponding provisions of these regulations. Banking Units already operating in an International Financial Services Centre must meet any additional requirements within three months of notification, subject to an extension specified by the Authority.

Ward No. 209 (Entertainment) under Zone-11, KCS, is established to regulate, monitor, assess and collect GST on entertainment and luxury services throughout the National Capital Territory of Delhi. Registered dealers engaged in covered activities are transferred to the ward, and future entertainment registrations are to be processed there. Coverage includes cinemas, events and shows, cable television operators, amusement and water parks, race courses, and similar activities.

Failure by a Parent Bank applicant or Banking Unit to comply with conditions attached to a banking licence may result in withdrawal of that licence. Before withdrawal, the Banking Unit must be given thirty days to make submissions. The Authority may additionally take any other action considered appropriate under the Act.

Power to specify procedures and issue clarifications enables the Authority to prescribe norms, procedures, processes and manners through guidelines or circulars for implementing the banking regulations and incidental matters. The Authority may also grant relaxations to facilitate and regulate financial services relating to banking and investment activities in an International Financial Services Centre.

Regulation 19 permits a Banking Unit to exchange margins with a counterparty Banking Unit or overseas regulated entity for non-centrally cleared over-the-counter currency, interest-rate, credit and commodity derivative contracts. Margin may be exchanged in freely convertible currency, permissible listed debt securities or sovereign securities to reflect mark-to-market exposure, subject to a legally enforceable netting arrangement and specifications issued by the Authority.

Deposit insurance is not provided through any centralised scheme for deposits held with a Banking Unit under the International Financial Services Centres Authority (Banking) Regulations, 2020.

Maintenance of accounts by Banking Units permits an INR account funded from freely convertible foreign currency to meet administrative and statutory expenses and any other purposes specified by the Authority. Banking Units must maintain separate nostro accounts with correspondent banks, segregated from nostro accounts maintained by other Indian branches of the same Parent Bank.

Banking Units must maintain books of accounts, records and documents in the freely convertible foreign currency declared at the time of making their application. This requirement governs the currency in which core accounting records and related documentation are maintained.

Banking Units must furnish the Authority with operational information at such times and in such manner and form as specified by the Authority. Reports are required to be submitted in US Dollar unless otherwise specified. The reporting framework permits the Authority to determine applicable timing, format and currency requirements.

Banking Units must comply with Know Your Customer norms, counter-terrorism financing measures, anti-money laundering requirements and related reporting obligations issued by the Reserve Bank, except where the Authority specifies otherwise.

Banking Units may undertake lending, trade finance, inter-bank transactions, investments, export receivables financing and equipment leasing, subject to applicable conditions and risk-management guidelines. They may enter specified derivative transactions, including over-the-counter, listed INR, gold hedging and non-deliverable currency contracts. Banking Units may also operate as Foreign Portfolio Investors subject to registration or intimation requirements, offer segregated nominee accounts, and act as trading or professional clearing members for derivative segments.

Foreign currency account transactions prohibit cash transactions. Freely convertible foreign currency accounts may be opened, held and maintained with a Banking Unit as current, savings or term-deposit accounts for individuals, and as current or term-deposit accounts for other account holders, subject to specified conditions.

Foreign currency accounts with a Banking Unit may be opened, held and maintained by Qualified Individuals and by resident or non-resident corporate or institutional entities, subject to the manner or requirements specified by the Authority. Qualified Resident Individuals may maintain freely convertible foreign currency accounts for transactions connected with, or arising from, permissible current account transactions, capital account transactions, or both, as specified under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme.

Banking business in an International Financial Services Centre must ordinarily be conducted in freely convertible foreign currencies with persons specified by the Authority, whether resident or non-resident. INR-denominated business may be permitted with specified persons only where the related financial transaction is settled in freely convertible foreign currency.

Lender of Last Resort support is unavailable to a Banking Unit under Regulation 9 of the International Financial Services Centres Authority (Banking) Regulations, 2020.

Banking Unit liabilities, except deposits raised from Qualified Individuals and Qualified Resident Individuals, are exempt from Cash Reserve Ratio and similar reserve requirements. Deposits raised from those categories remain subject to reserve ratios specified by the Authority.

Exposure ceilings applicable to a Banking Unit restrict exposure to a single borrower to five percent of the Parent Bank's Tier 1 capital and exposure to a borrower group to ten percent of that capital. These prudential limits regulate credit concentration by linking permissible single-borrower and group exposure to the Parent Bank's Tier 1 capital.