Ans. When a person is made aware of the contravention of the provisions of FEMA, 1999 by the Reserve Bank or any other statutory authority or the auditors or by any other means, she/he may apply for compounding. One can also make an application for compounding, suo mo-to, on becoming aware of the contravention.

• There will be two parts in the interest rate. One, fixed rate of 1.5% per annum and second, inflation rate.

• For example, if inflation rate during the six months is 5%, then interest rate for this six months would be 5.75% (i.e. fixed rate -0.75% and inflation rate -5%).

Response: An eligible depositor can open a Gold Deposit Account with any of the designated banks after meeting the KYC norms. Generally, deposits under the scheme shall be made at the CPTC/GMS Mobilisation, Collection & Testing Agent (GMCTA) which would then test the purity of the customers’ gold in their presence and issue deposit receipts of the standard gold of 995 fineness to the depositor and also inform the customers’ respective bank about acceptance of deposit. The designated bank will credit Short-Term Bank Deposit (STBD) or Medium/Long-Term Government Deposit (MLTGD) account of the customer, as is applicable, either on the same day of receipt of deposit receipt by the depositor or within 30 days of deposit of gold at CPTC/GMCTA (regardless of whether the depositor submits the receipt or not), whichever is earlier.

Thereafter, the interest on deposits will start accruing from date of conversion of gold deposited into tradable gold bars or 30 days after receipt of gold at the CPTC/GMCTA, whichever is earlier.

Ans. All collateral-free loans to individual/s belonging to low-income households, i.e., households having annual income up to ₹3,00,000 are treated as microfinance loans.

Answer: Yes, for opening of Special Rupee Vostro Account, prior approval of RBI would be required. The bank willing to open Special Rupee Vostro Account for bank of the partner country should have a good level of business resilience and financial health. Second, they need to have experience in facilitating trade/investment transactions and capability to provide other financial services. Third, AD banks should have good correspondent relationships with banks in partner countries.

Yes, the originating NBFCs/HFCs can offer credit enhancement. However, for such credit enhancement, they need to maintain capital as per the capital requirements prescribed for NBFCs/HFCs by the Bank.

Ans. The detailed procedural instructions issued by RBI are contained in the A.P.(DIR Series) Circular No. 22 dated March 17, 2020 and in Master Direction No.16/2015-16 dated January 1, 2016 on Export of Goods and Services, as amended from time to time.

Ans. Only MSMEs can participate as sellers in TReDS.

With CBS in banks, it is felt that time has come to utilize CBS system capabilities to meet requirements like MIS, ADF, etc, in addition to regular transactional activities.

The Scheme has been made applicable to System Participants as defined in Clause 3 (11) of the Scheme.

Yes. The ₹2000 banknote will continue to maintain its legal tender status.

Banks have been advised to issue only CTS 2010 standard compliant cheques from September 30, 2012. Earlier, there were septate clearing sessions for non-CTS cheques. However, they were discontinued with effect from December 31, 2018. As of now, non-CTS cheques cannot be presented in CTS. Bank have been advised to withdraw the non-CTS cheques from the customers. However, non-CTS cheques remain to be valid as a negotiable instrument.

ECS Credit payments can be initiated by any institution (called ECS Credit User) which needs to make bulk or repetitive payments to a number of beneficiaries. The institutional User has to first register with an ECS Centre. The User has to also obtain the consent of beneficiaries (i.e., the recipients of salary, pension, dividend, interest etc.) and get their bank account particulars prior to participation in the ECS Credit scheme. ECS Credit payments can be put through by the ECS User only through his / her bank (known as the Sponsor bank). ECS Credits are afforded to the beneficiary account holders (known as destination account holders) through the beneficiary account holders’ bank (known as the destination bank). The beneficiary account holders are required to give mandates to the user institutions to enable them to afford credit to their bank accounts through the ECS Credit mechanism.

All Scheduled Commercial Banks, Regional Rural Banks and Scheduled Primary Co-operative Banks are covered under the Scheme.

Differential rates of interest can be paid onsingle depositof Rs.15 lakhs and above and not on the aggregate of individual deposits where such total exceeds Rs.15 lakhs.

Non-competitive bids will be allowed upto 5 percent of the notified amount in the specified auctions of dated securities.

Yes. But ADs (banks) should ensure that the funds to be repatriated outside India were either received from abroad or are of repatriable in nature or are permissible in terms of RBI notification No.FEMA.13/2000 dated 3rd May 2000.

Authorised dealers are free to decide the documentation, as also any other information (including declaration), required by them, to satisfy themselves, before effecting the remittance. They should, however, call for the following documents viz. A certificate from a Chartered Accountant certifying that the applicant exporter satisfies the criteria of having export earning of at least Rs.10 lakhs, during each of the preceding two years, The C.A. certificate as at (a) above is not necessary, in case the export earnings prescribed (i.e. minimum Rs.10 lakhs in each of the previous two years), have been realised through the same authorised dealer, through whom the remittance is sought to be made. A Chartered Accountant’s certificate should also be obtained, certifying that the remittance represents advertisement charges incurred by the advertiser towards telecast in foreign countries and not in India alone. The certificate will have to be obtained for each remittance. Authorised dealers should, before allowing the remittances, obtain from the remitter an undertaking and a C.A. certificate in the format as prescribed in the CBDT circular No.10/2002 dated October 9, 2002. [c.f. A.P. (DIR Series) Circular No.56 dated November 26, 2002).

Banks have been allowed to convert the balance in the account at the time of departure of the tourists into foreign currency provided the account has been maintained for a period not exceeding six months and the account has not been credited with any local funds, other than interest accrued thereon.

These guidelines have been notified by Reserve Bank of India in its Notification FEMA No.19 dated 3^rd May 2000 as amended from time to time which can be accessed at the Reserve Bank’s website fema.rbi.org.in.