Ans, Every company registered under Section 3 of the Companies Act 1956 seeking registration as NBFC-Factor shall have a minimum Net Owned Fund (NOF) of Rs. 5 crore. Existing companies seeking registration as NBFC-Factor but do not fulfil the NOF criterion of Rs. 5 crore may approach the Bank for time to comply with the requirement.

A link to ATS has been provided in the RBI website http://www.rbi.org.in.

There may be a risk of capital loss if the market price of gold declines. However, the investor does not lose in terms of the units of gold which he has paid for.

• Yes, capital protection will be provided by paying higher of the adjusted principal and face value (FV) at redemption.

• If adjusted principal goes below FV due to deflation, the FV would be paid at redemption and thus, capital will get protected.

Ans: Following is the step-wise flow of NEFT transaction.

Step-1: An individual / firm / corporate willing to transfer funds through NEFT can use the internet / mobile banking facility offered by his / her bank for initiating online funds transfer request. The remitter has to provide details of beneficiary such as, name of the beneficiary, name of the bank branch where the beneficiary has an account, IFSC of the beneficiary bank branch, account type and account number, etc. for addition of the beneficiary to his / her internet / mobile banking module. Upon successful beneficiary addition, the remitter can initiate online NEFT funds transfer by authorising debit to his / her account. Alternatively, the remitter can also visit his / her bank branch for initiating NEFT funds transfer through branch / off-line mode. The customer has to fill-in the beneficiary details in NEFT application form available at the bank branch and authorise the branch to debit to his / her account to the extent of the amount requested in NEFT application form.

Step-2: The originating bank prepares a message and sends the message to its pooling centre, also called the NEFT Service Centre.

Step-3: The pooling centre forwards the message to the NEFT Clearing Centre, operated by the RBI, to be included for the next available batch.

Step-4: The Clearing Centre sorts the funds transfer transactions beneficiary bank-wise and prepares accounting entries to receive funds from the originating banks (debit) and give the funds to the beneficiary banks (credit). Thereafter, bank-wise remittance messages are forwarded to the beneficiary banks through their pooling centre (NEFT Service Centre).

Step-5: The beneficiary banks receive the inward remittance messages from the Clearing Centre and pass on the credit to the beneficiary customers’ accounts.

Yes. Money changing business can be undertaken by entities authorised by the Reserve Bank under Section 10 of the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999. No person shall carry on money changing business without the possession of a valid licence issued by the Reserve Bank. Any person found undertaking money changing business without a valid licence is liable to be penalised under the Act ibid.

Ans. Travellers going to all countries other than (a) and (b) below are allowed to purchase foreign currency notes / coins only up to USD 3000 per visit. Balance amount can be carried in the form of store value cards, travellers cheque or banker’s draft. Exceptions to this are (a) travellers proceeding to Iraq and Libya who can draw foreign exchange in the form of foreign currency notes and coins not exceeding USD 5000 or its equivalent per visit; (b) travellers proceeding to the Islamic Republic of Iran, Russian Federation and other Republics of Commonwealth of Independent States who can draw entire foreign exchange (up-to USD 250,000) in the form of foreign currency notes or coins.

For travellers proceeding for Haj/ Umrah pilgrimage, full amount of entitlement (USD 250,000) in cash or up to the cash limit as specified by the Haj Committee of India, may be released by the ADs and FFMCs.

Ans. Resident as defined in Sec 2(v) ² of FEMA, 1999. Further, the onus is on the individual to prove his/ her residential status, if questioned by any authority.

All monies for credit to government account like taxes or other remittances can be made by filling the prescribed challans of the Government/Department concerned. The tax payers are encouraged to pay dues to Government electronically by login in to respective government portals. However, if they prefer to pay dues by way of cash, cheque, demand draft, these are required to be tendered with the authorized agency bank branches along with requisite challan

Ans The remitting bank transmits the funds transfer message to RBI so as to reach NCC, before the cut off time for the settlement, the receiving bank’s account is credited by RBI at the destination centre and beneficiary gets credit on the same day.