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Prepared for the Study Circle Meeting organized by the Bengaluru Chapter of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India

FILING OF FLA ANNUAL RETURN

&

FORM FC-GPR

By – CS Della Santhosh T, Associate, Fox Mandal & Associates, Bengaluru

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Disclaimer

The views and opinions expressed in this presentation and on the following slides are solely those of the presenter and not necessarily those of Fox Mandal.

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What is FLA?

  • Annual return on Foreign Liabilities and Assets to be filed by certain entities with RBI

  • Entities liable to file the return: Entities which received FDI and/or made FDI abroad (i.e overseas investment) in the previous year(s) including the current year.

  • No FDI/ODI outstanding as at the end of March of reporting period – no filings required

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Background of the Return/ Evolution

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From April 20,2007 Part B of FCGPR has to be submitted to RBI

From March 15, 2011 ‘Annual Return on Foreign Liabilities and Assets’ (A. P. (DIR Series) Circular No.45 dated March 15, 2011) has been introduced, date of filing was July 15 of every year

From June 20, 2012, Filing through e-mail introduced ( A.P. (DIR Series) Circular No.133 dated June 20, 2012)

June 28, 2019 online filing in https://flair.rbi.org.in is introduced (A.P. (DIR Series) Circular No. 37 dated June 28, 2019

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Persons required to file FLA Annual Return

  • Following entities which received FDI and/or made FDI abroad in the previous year(s) including the current year:
  • A Company within the meaning of section 1(4) of the Companies Act, 2013.
  • A Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) registered under the Limited Liability Partnership Act, 2008
  • Others [include SEBI registered Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs), Partnership Firms, Public Private Partnerships (PPP) etc.]

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Who is not required to file the return?

  • If the Indian company does not have any outstanding investment in respect of inward and outward FDI as on end-March of reporting year
  • If a company has received only share application money and does not have any foreign direct investment or overseas direct investment outstanding
  • If all non-resident shareholders has transferred their shares to the residents
  • Shares issued by reporting company to non-resident on Non-Repatriable basis should not be considered as foreign investment

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FLA FILING Applicability

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What is the purpose for introduction of this return? �Why RBI collects such information from entities ?

  • RBI participates in Co-ordinated Direct Investment Survey (CDIS) and Co-ordinated Portfolio Investment Survey (CPIS) conducted by International Monetary Fund (IMF)
  • compilation of India’s Balance of Payments (BoP) and International Investment Position (IIP)
  • Confidentiality of the information- entity wise information is not released only consolidated aggregates are released

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Filing Due Date…

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30 September of the year-

Revised return in case of revisions in provisional data as compared to audited figures with approval

July 15 every year

-can be filed with audited or unaudited figures

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Consequence of delay filing FLA

  • Regulation 4 Foreign Exchange Management (Mode of Payment and Reporting of Non-Debt Instruments) Regulations, 2019 – deals with reporting timeline of FLA
  • Regulation 5- deals with the Late submission Fee (LSF) case of delayed reporting of FLA –additional option for regularising reporting delays
  • Late submission fee has been recently revised by RBI vide RBI circular no. RBI/2022-23/122 A.P. (DIR Series) Circular No.16 dated September 30, 2022- Fixed amounts- brought uniformity in levy of maximum LSF

  • LSF amount is per return.

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Penalty for non-filing of FLA Return

  • liable for penalty under FEMA, 1999

Query: Whether penalty is still applicable above LSF in case of delay filing?

No

-clarified in RBI circular no. RBI/2022-23/122 A.P. (DIR Series) Circular No.16 dated September 30, 2022 – states :

-The facility for opting for LSF shall be available up to three years from the due date of reporting/ submission. 

-In case a person responsible for any submission or filing under the provisions of FEMA, neither makes such submission/filing within the specified time nor makes such submission/filing along with LSF, such person shall be liable for penal action under the provisions of FEMA, 1999.

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Continues…�

Whether compounding can be done for contravention in the filing of FLA Return?

Yes, The Regional Office of the RBI has the power to compound.

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Some important terms/Faqs in FLA

  • What is Direct investment?

-Direct investment is a category of international investment in which a resident entity in one economy [Direct Investor (DI)] acquires a lasting interest in an enterprise resident in another economy [Direct Investment Enterprise (DIE)].

-It consists of two components, viz., Equity Capital and Other Capital.

  • What is Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in India?

If the Indian company has issued the shares to non-resident entities under the FDI scheme in India.

  • What is reverse investment?

If the reporting Indian company also holds the equity shares in its DI company abroad.

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Some important terms/Faqs in FLA

What is “Other Capital” under Direct Investment?

-covers the outstanding liabilities or claims arising due to borrowing and lending of funds, investment in debt securities, trade credits, financial leasing, share application money etc., between direct investors and DIEs and between two DIEs that share the same direct Investor.

-Non-participating preference shares owned by the direct investor are treated as debt securities & should be included in ‘other capital’.

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Some important terms/Faqs in FLA

  • What are participating and non-participating preference shares?

Participating preference shares are those shares which have one or more of the following rights:

(a) To receive dividend, out of surplus profit after paying the dividend to equity shareholders.

(b) To have share in surplus assets remaining after the entire capital is paid in case of winding up of the company.

 

On the other hand, Non-participating Preference Shares are those shares which do not have any of the above said rights.

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Some important terms/Faqs in FLA

Whether equity participation includes equity shares as well as compulsorily convertible debentures (CCD)?

NO, CCD held by Non-Resident direct investor should be reported under Other capital.

-if the investor holds only CCD as on end March, then it should be reported in Portfolio Investment in India.

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Some important terms/Faqs in FLA

Q.In the FLA Return, whether FDI should be reported based on the country of immediate investor or country of ultimate holding company? Where should we report the receivable/ payables with non-resident ultimate holding company?

While filling the FLA return, FDI reporting should be based on the country of immediate investor. However, if there are any receivables/payables with the non-resident ultimate holding company, then same should also be reported at ‘Other capital

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Some important terms/Faqs in FLA

  • What constitute in the Equity Securities under portfolio Investment ?

outstanding equity investments (secondary / stock market investment) by non-resident investors, other than those made under Foreign Direct Investment Scheme in India

  • What constitute in the Debt Securities under portfolio Investment?
  • Money Market Instruments and Bonds & Other instruments are invested by non-resident investors
  • Non-participating preference shares and debentures are held by foreign investor who is not holding equity share

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FLAIR APPLICATION

  • submit the FLA return through the online web-based portal Foreign Liabilities and Assets Information Reporting (FLAIR) system.
  • Weblink: https://flair.rbi.org.in/fla/faces/pages/login.xhtml

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FLA User Registration

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Continued….

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Continued

  • Once form submitted Username and Password received to authorised person in the email
  • Authority letter and verification letters are mandatory attachments – issued by the entity
  • While logging in OTP received on registered email id.

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HOW TO CHANGE THE AUTHORISED PERSON FOR THE ENTITY?

STEP-1

Deactivate the existing account by email requestto surveyfla@rbi.org.in along with company name, CIN , username etc.

STEP-2

Re-register your entity with new authority letter and verification letter.

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FLA Online form

  • OTP based login-receive at the registered email id

Home page

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Details disclosed in FLA

Section I: Identification particular of entity

Section II: Financial details

Section III: Foreign Liabilities

Section IV: Foreign Assets

Section V: Variation report

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Section I: Entity particulars

Sr.

No.

Field Name

Field Description

1

Name of the Indian Company*

Pre-filled, non-editable as per the FLA registration form

2

PAN number*

Pre-filled, non-editable as per the FLA registration form

3

CIN number*

Pre-filled, non-editable as per the FLA registration form

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Name of the Contact Person*

Enter the name of the contact person

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Telephone No. (with extension) *

Mention the telephone number with extension

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Mobile Number*

Provide valid mobile number

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E-Mail ID (Head of the institution) *

Pre-filled, non-editable as per the FLA registration form

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E-Mail of Contact person*

Enter the Email ID of the contact person

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Designation*

Mention the designation of the contact person

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Website (if any)

Enter the website of the company, if any

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Account Closing date*

Choose the date of closing account for submission of current FLA return from the side arrow of calendar

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Nature of Business (As per National Industrial Classification (NIC) 2008 Code) *

Choose the nature of business as per National Industrial Classification (NIC) 2008 Code from the drop-down menu. Refer the Annex-1 for the list of National Industrial Classification (NIC) 2008 Codes

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Section I: Entity particulars

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Whether your company is merged/amalgamated during year*

Select Yes or No.

In case of Yes is selected, then provide the details of new company merged/amalgamated, number of merged companies and the name of merged entity.

 

Details of paid -up capital

 

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Whether the company is listed? *

Yes/No

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Identification of the reporting company (in terms of inward FDI) *

Choose appropriate option from the drop-down menu.

 

    • Associate of Foreign Entity (If single foreign investor holds between 10% and 50% of equity shares).
    • Subsidiary of Foreign Entity (If single foreign investor holds more than 50% of equity).

 

    • Others If an entity has only Outward Investment and no inward FDI then “Others or LLP

 

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Type of company*

To be selected from drop down

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Whether the Company is Asset Management Company? *

Select Yes or No.

 

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Whether the Company has Technical Foreign collaboration? *

Select Yes or No.

 

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Whether the company has any business activity during latest financial year? *

Select Yes or No.

 

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Section II: Financial Details

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1.Paid-up Capital of Indian Company

1.0

Total Paid-up Capital

Auto-calculated

Paid-up capital of a company cannot be zero or blank.

1.1

Total Equity & Participating Preference share Capital

Auto-calculated (sum of ordinary/equity share and Participating Preference share)

(a)

Ordinary/Equity Share

-in actual

-Amount will be Auto-calculated.

-In case of different class of Equity Shares, consolidated figure should be reported

(b)

Participating Preference Share

Amount will be Auto-calculated.

1.2

Non-Participating Preference share

Amount will be Auto-calculated.

2

Non-Resident Holdings

Details like Equity and Participating Preference Share Capital and Non- Participating Preference Share

 

Category- Individual, Company FIIs, Financial Institution, PIO etc.

 

3.

Profit and Loss Account (from P/L Account)

 

 

Profit (+) / Loss (-) before tax and after Tax

Dividend(Interim and Final Dividend)

Tax on Dividend (if any)

Retained Profit (AC)

4.

Reserves & Surplus

4.1 Reserves and Surplus (from Balance sheet)

4.2 Of which, Profit(+) and Loss(-)account

balance

4.3 Net worth of Company(AC)

5.

Sales and Purchase made during the financial Year

 

Domestic Sales

Exports

Domestic Purchase

Imports

 

Total sales and Total Purchases will be AC

6.

Employee Information of reporting Indian company(in actual)

Enter actual number of employees on payroll at the end of March (current year as well as previous year)

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Section III: Foreign Liabilities(investment made In India

FDI - Foreign Direct Investment

 

1. Investment in India under Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) scheme (10% or more Equity Participation

  • No. of foreign direct investors as on end-march of reporting year  
  • Month and Year of receiving FDI first time

 

 

As FDI 1- Name of the Non-Resident Company/ Individual, Country percentage of shareholding, Share capital

 

As FDI 2 ….As FDI 3 etc

 

When it comes to Share capital details following to be noted

 

1.0 Equity and PPS Capital

1.1 Liabilities to Direct Investor (AC)

1.2 Claims on Direct Investor (Reverse

Investment)

 

2.0 Other Capital

2.1 Liabilities to Direct Investor

2.2 Claims on Direct Investor

3.0 Disinvestments in India during the year

 

 

2.Investment in India under Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) scheme (Less than 10% Equity Holding)

-

Portfolio Investment in India

outstanding investments by non-resident investors, other than those made under Foreign Direct Investment Scheme in India like Equity securities, Debt Securities, Money Market Instruments etc.

Other Investment (Outstanding Liabilities with Foreign Unrelated Parties)

 

1.1 Trade Credit

1.2 Loans

1.3 Currency and Deposits

1.4 Other payable accounts

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Section IV: Foreign Assets (investment Abroad)

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Note:

- exchange rate as at end-March Previous FY and end-March Latest FY

-Listed company: Equity as per share price on closing date of reference period

-Unlisted company: Equity- Own Fund of Book Value (OFBV) Method should be used for the valuation.

 

1. Equity Capital (PUC), Reserves & Surplus of Direct Investment Enterprise (DIE) Abroad (10% or more equity holding by Indian reporting company).

 

-total equity of DIE

-equity held by the DI

-reserves (excluding P&L Account)

-Net worth of DIE

-Profit & Loss Account of those DIEs

-Sales

-Purchases

-No.of employees

-Under “Equity and PPS capital” the details of claims on DIE and Liabilities to DIE

-Under “other Capital” the details of claims on DIE and Liabilities to DIE

2. Direct Investment Abroad (Less than 10% equity holding)

-

3. Portfolio Investments abroad

-

4.Other Investment (Outstanding Claims on Foreign Unrelated Parties)

1.1 Trade Credit

1.2 Loans

1.3 Currency and Deposits

1.4 Other payable accounts

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Section V: Variation Report

  • Confirm Data and Submit
  • Acknowledgement will be autogenerated

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Some important aspects to be noted ….

  • Check revised formats for authority and verification letters.
  • There is no rejection as it is self -validated form and details submitted gets accepted.
  • Queries for technical as well as peculiar issues can be emailed at surveyfla@rbi.org.in
  • authorised signatory can be changed by deactivating user and request for activating new user.
  • If Username and password forgotten – approach SURVEYFLA@RBI.ORG.IN to provide username and authorized person’s email id
  • fla can be saved as draft and submitted later
  • Details of previous year and current year to be given
  • reset will reset the entire form
  • has more than one activity during the year- Entity can select that activity, from which they have earned majority revenue for purpose of NIC
  • website gets logged out after 10 minutes or so
  • always save as draft after each tab
  • If Account Closing Period of the company is different from reference period, then information should be reported on internal assessment basis for the reference period.

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Filing of Form FC-GPR

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FC-GPR – Foreign Currency- Gross Provisional Return

Who should file :Indian Company receiving Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) shall report on the investment to in FC-GPR.

Reporting requirement - under Regulation 4 of Foreign Exchange Management (Mode of Payment and Reporting of Non-Debt Instruments) Regulations, 2019

-Timeline for reporting- not later than thirty days from the date of issue of equity instruments.

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FIRMS (Foreign Investment Reporting and Management System) Application

  • RBI Introduced Single Master Form (SMF) for various reporting through FIRMS
  • FC-GPR made available w.e.f September 01, 2018

The Link to firm portal https://firms.rbi.org.in/firms/faces/pages/login.xhtml

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Entity User Registration and Creation of Entity Master

Entity User:

  • is a person authorized by the entity (company/ LLP/startup) to register an entity in the Entity Master of FIRMS application.
  • sole person authorized to add/update the foreign investment details of an Entity in the Entity Master and would be entirely responsible for the data entered.
  • One entity have only one entity user.

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Continued…

  • Authority letter providing authorisation as entity user and PAN of entity and entity user are mandatory attachment
  • Authorisation letter should be in prescribed format as given in the User Manual available on RBI website
  • Authority Letter submitted by the entity user will be verified by RBI and after RBI’s approval, the user will receive the password on their registered email ID from RBI email ID autoreply-fid@rbi.org.in.
  • The password to be changed upon first login.
  • Entity mater to created with details of the entity : CIN,PAN, Address, NIC code etc

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Creation of Business User

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Mandatory attachment to FC-GPR

  • 1.Declaration to be filed by the authorised representative of the Indian company
  • CS certificate
  • Valuation certificate -For rights issue, no valuation certificate required.

A declaration (plain paper) may be attached that the rights issue to person’s resident outside India is not less than the price offered to persons resident in India.

The valuation certificate should not be more than 90 days old as on the date of allotment of shares.

  • PAS – 3/ Board resolution
  • Memorandum of Association, if applicable
  • Relevant order in case of merger/amalgamation
  • In case of further issue -Acknowledgement letter of FC-GPR/FC-TRS of original investment
  • FIRC and KYC
  • Other documents as required specifically by AD Banks

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FORMAT COMPANY SECRETARY CERTIFICATE

The certificate from CA/ CS to be submitted along with forms filed will cover the following:

i) all the requirements of the Companies Act, 2013/ Limited Liability Partnership Act, 2008/ any relevant rules/ regulations have been complied with.

ii) appropriate Government approvals, wherever required, have been obtained and the terms and conditions of such government approval, if any, have been complied with.

iii) the transaction is in compliance with the provisions under Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 and/ or the rules and regulations framed, or directions issued thereunder, as amended from time to time and as applicable.

iv) The company has all certificates (e.g., KYC, FIRC) issued by AD banks evidencing receipt of amount of consideration in accordance with extant rules/ regulations of FEMA, 1999.

Note: 1.UDIN applicable

2.AD insist same format and clauses as provided in the format

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FIRC- Foreign Inward Remittance Certificate

  • Proof of inward remittance to India
  • Issued by beneficiary bank to which

remittance received

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Delay filing FC-GPR –New LSF Calculation w.e.f 30/09/2022

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Sr. No.

Type of Reporting delays

LSF Amount (INR)

1

Form ODI Part-II/ APR, FCGPR (B), FLA Returns, Form OPI, evidence of investment or any other return which does not capture flows or any other periodical reporting

7500

2

FC-GPR, FCTRS, Form ESOP, Form LLP(I), Form LLP(II), Form CN, Form DI, Form InVi, Form ODI-Part I, Form ODI-Part III, Form FC, Form ECB, Form ECB-2, Revised Form ECB or any other return which captures flows or returns which capture reporting of non-fund transactions or any other transactional reporting

[7500 + (0.025% × A × n)]

a) “n” is the number of years of delay in submission rounded-upwards to the nearest month and expressed up to 2 decimal points.�b) “A is the amount involved in the delayed reporting.�c) LSF amount is per return. 

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Continued…

  • Where an advice has been issued for payment of LSF and such LSF is not paid within 30 days, such advice shall be considered as null and void a
  • any LSF received beyond this period shall not be accepted.
  • If the applicant subsequently approaches for payment of LSF for the same delayed reporting, the date of receipt of such application shall be treated as the reference date.
  • The facility for opting for LSF shall be available up to three years from the due date of reporting/ submission.
  • In case a person responsible for any submission or filing under the provisions of FEMA, neither makes such submission/filing within the specified time nor makes such submission/filing along with LSF, such person shall be liable for penal action under the provisions of FEMA, 1999.

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Launch of rationalised version of FIRMS

  • Vide RBI/2022-23/160 A.P. (DIR Series) Circular No. 22, Dated, 04.01.2023
  • W.e.f January 05,2023 implemented following changes in Firms :
  • Form submitted on firms will be Auto-acknowledged with time –stamp
  • an auto-generated e-mail will be sent to the applicant registered email
  • AD banks shall verify the same within 5 working days based on the uploaded documents.
  • The system would identify the delay in the reporting, if any.
  • For forms filed with a delay less than or equal to three years, the AD banks will approve the same, subject to payment of LSF.
  • The LSF will be computed by the system and an e-mail will be sent to the applicant and the concerned Regional Office (RO) of RBI specifying the amount and the timeline within which it is to be paid to the concerned RO of RBI.

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Continued

7. LSF payment done- concerned RO will update the status in the FIRMS portal -the new status will be communicated to applicant through a system-generated email, which can also be accessed in the FIRMS portal.

8. Where there is delay more 3 years – AD approves subject to Compounding

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Sample Auto Acknowledgment email

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Email advise for LSF payment

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Email on Mode of Payment

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Specific instructions In case of LSF paid through NEFT/RTGS mode

  • the amount has to be paid only in the account of the concerned Regional Office of RBI.

  • The payment should be completed by 1:00 PM.

  • Thereafter, the BU shall provide details of the payment through email to the concerned Regional Office of RBI in the format as given by RBI

  • The aforesaid email should be sent keeping the auto-generated LSF advice email received from FIRMS in trail. Email has to be sent within two hours of making the LSF payment.

  • Payments done after 1:00 PM or mails sent after the prescribed time of two hours would be considered null and void. Thus, the LSF amount paid by the applicant would be refunded.

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MAIL TO BE SENT TO CONCERNED RBI’s REGIONAL OFFICE FOR SUBMITTING NEFT/RTGS DETAILS��

SUBJECT: NEFT/RTGS Details for LSF payment as advised vide FIRMS email dated dd/mm/yyyy for FIRMS Form Reference No. _ _ _ _ _ (Provide Form No.)

Sir/ Madam,

This is with reference to the trailing autogenerated email (forward LSF autogenerated email in trail) received from FIRMS advising payment of LSF of ₹__ (mention LSF amount).

2. In this regard, it is brought to your notice that the above-mentioned LSF amount has been paid. Transaction details are as below:

FIRMS Form Reference No.:

NEFT/RTGS Transaction No.:

Name of A/c holder:

A/c No.:

IFSC:

Branch Name:

Bank Name:

Date of payment:

3. In view of the above, you are requested to take the aforesaid LSF payment on record.

Regards

XYZ

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Processing of form FC-GPR

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  • Dashboard

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FCGPR Form –Details

  • Nature of Issue: Preferential Allotment/ Private Placement/Rights issue/ Bonus Issue/Merger/demerger/subscription to Memorandum of Association/ESOP /Sweat Equity etc.(to be selected from the drop down accordingly)

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FCGPR Form –Section II – Foreign investor Details

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Continued…

  • Type of Capital Instrument: Equity shares, CCD, CCPS partly paid up shares, shares issued against Convertible Notes etc ( to be selected from the drop down)

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Continued…

  • Mode of payment- Inward remittance from abroad through banking channel, Swap, Issue of Equity shares against funds payable to its Foreign investor…

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Continued….

  • Auto –populated

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FC-GPR Details –Section III-Amount of issue

  • Auto- populated

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FC-GPR Details –Section III-Particulars of issue

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FC-GPR Details –Section V: Shareholding pattern

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Tracking status of FC-GPR forms filed

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Contact Details:

For any queries, please reach out to :

Della Santhosh T | Associate

Fox Mandal & Associates LLP | 

FM House, 6/12, Primrose Road, Bangalore – 560025

Karnataka, INDIA 

M : +91 9526753402| P : +91 80 2559 5911 

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