Release of Foreign Exchange for Imports - Further Liberalisation

RESERVE BANK OF INDIA

Foreign Exchange Department

Central Office

Mumbai - 400 001

RBI/2011-12/404                                       February 21, 2012
A.P. (DIR Series) Circular No. 82

To
All Authorised Dealers in Foreign Exchange

Madam / Sir,

Release of Foreign Exchange for Imports – Further Liberalisation

1.Attention of all the Authorised Dealers (ADs) in foreign exchange is invited to the A.P.(DIR Series) Circular No. 106 dated June 19, 2003 in terms of which applications by persons, firms and companies for making payments, exceeding USD 500 or its equivalent towards imports into India must be made in Form A-1.

2. Based on suggestions received from the various stake holders, the said limit has been reviewed and it has been decided as a measure of liberalization to raise the above limit for foreign exchange remittance towards imports without any documentation formalities, from USD 500 or its equivalent to USD 5000 or its equivalent, with immediate effect.

3. It is clarified that the ADs need not obtain any document, including Form A-1, except a simple letter from the applicant containing the basic information viz., the name and the address of the applicant, name and address of the beneficiary, amount to be remitted and the purpose of remittance, as long as the exchange being purchased is for a current account transaction (and is not included in the Schedules I and II of the Foreign Exchange Management (Current Account Transactions) Rules, 2000 framed by Government of India vide Notification No. G.S.R.381 (E) dated May 3, 2000, as amended from time to time, the amount does not exceed USD 5000 or its equivalent and the payment is made by a cheque drawn on the applicant's bank account or by a Demand Draft.

4. Authorised Dealers may bring the contents of this circular to the notice of their constituents and customers concerned.

5. The directions contained in this circular have been issued under Sections 10(4) and 11(1) of the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (42 of 1999) and are without prejudice to permissions / approvals, if any, required under any other law.

Yours faithfully,

(Rashmi Fauzdar)

Chief General Manager

Export of Goods and Services - Receipt of advance payment for export of goods Involving shipment (manufacture and ship) beyond one year

RESERVE BANK OF INDIA

Foreign Exchange Department

Central Office

Mumbai - 400 001

RBI/2011-12/ 403                                           February 21, 2012
A.P. (DIR Series) Circular No.81

To
All Category – I Authorised Dealer Banks

Madam / Sir,

Export of Goods and Services -

Receipt of advance payment for export of goods

Involving shipment (manufacture and ship) beyond one year

1.Attention of Authorised Dealer Category – I (AD Category I) banks is invited to the sub-regulation (2) of Regulation 16 of the Foreign Exchange Management (Export of Goods and Services) Regulations, 2000, notified vide Notification No.FEMA.23/RB-2000, dated 3rd May 2000, as amended from time to time, in terms of which prior approval of the Reserve Bank is required to be obtained by an exporter for receipt of advance where the export agreement provides for shipment of goods extending beyond the period of one year from the date of receipt of advance payment.

2. With a view to liberalizing the procedure, it has been decided to permit AD Category- I banks to allow exporters to receive advance payment for export of goods which would take more than one year to manufacture and ship and where the ‘export agreement’ provides for shipment of goods extending beyond the period of one year from the date of receipt of advance payment subject to the following conditions:-

i) the KYC and due diligence exercise has been done by the AD Category –I bank for the overseas buyer;

ii) compliance with the Anti Money Laundering standards has been ensured;

iii) the AD Category-I bank should ensure that export advance received by the exporter should be utilized to execute export and not for any other purpose i.e., the transaction is a bona-fide transaction;

iv) progress payment, if any, should be received directly from the overseas buyer strictly in terms of the contract;

v) the rate of interest, if any, payable on the advance payment shall not exceed London Inter-Bank Offered Rate (LIBOR) + 100 basis points;

vi) there should be no instance of refund exceeding 10% of the advance payment received in the last three years;

vii) the documents covering the shipment should be routed through the same authorised dealer bank; and

viii) in the event of the exporter's inability to make the shipment, partly or fully, no remittance towards refund of unutilized portion of advance payment or towards payment of interest should be made without the prior approval of the Reserve Bank.

3. Necessary amendments to the Foreign Exchange Management (Export of Goods and Services) Regulations, 2000, wherever necessary, are being issued separately.

4. AD Category - I banks may bring the contents of this circular to the notice of their constituents and customers concerned.

5. The directions contained in this circular have been issued under Sections 10(4) and 11(1) of the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (42 of 1999) and are without prejudice to permissions / approvals, if any, required under any law.

Yours faithfully,

(Rashmi Fauzdar)

Chief General Manager

Exemption to specified persons from requirement of furnishing a return of income under section 139(1) for assessment year 2012-13

Section 139 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 - Return of Income - Exemption to specified persons from requirement of furnishing a return of income under section 139(1) for assessment year 2012-13

NOTIFICATION NO. 9/2012 [F. No.225/283/2011-ITA(II)], dated 17-2-2012

S.O........... (E). - In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (IC) of section 139 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (43 of 1961), the Central Government hereby exempts the following class of persons, subject to the conditions specified hereinafter, from the requirement of furnishing a return of income under sub-section (1) of section 139 for the assessment year 2012-13, namely:-

1. Class of persons. -An individual whose total income for the relevant assessment year does not exceed five lakh rupees and consists of only income chargeable to income-tax under the following head,-

(A) "Salaries";

(B) "Income from other sources", by way of interest from a saving account in a bank, not exceeding ten thousand rupees.

2. Conditions,- The individual referred to in para 1,-

(i) has reported to his employer his Permanent Account Number (PAN);

(ii) has reported to his employer, the incomes mentioned in sub-para (B) of para 1 and the employer has deducted the tax thereon;

(iii) has received a certificate of tax deduction in Form 16 from his employer which mentions the PAN, details of income and the tax deducted at source and deposited to the credit of the Central Government;

(iv) has discharged his total tax liability for the assessment year through tax deduction at source and its deposit by the employer to the Central Government;

(v) has no claim of refund of taxes due to him for the income of the assessment year, and

(vi) has received salary from only one employer for the assessment year.

3. The exemption from the requirement of furnishing a return of income tax shall not be available where a notice under section 142(1) or section 148 or section 153A or section 153C of the Income-tax Act has been issued for filing a return of income for the relevant assessment year.

4. This notification shall come into force from the date of its publication in the Official Gazette.

■■

Notified Bonds and debentures of public sector companies under section 10 (15) (iv) (h)

Section 10(15), item (h) of sub-clause (iv) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 - Exemptions - Interest on bonds/debentures - Notified bonds/debentures of Public Sector Companies

Notification No. 7/2012 [F.No.178/56/2011-(ITA.I)], dated 14-2-2012

S.O. (E).- In exercise of the powers conferred by item (h) of sub-clause (iv) of clause (15) of section 10 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (43 of 1961), the Central Government hereby authorises the Rural Electrification Corporation (hereinafter referred to as the entity), to issue, through a public issue, during the financial year 2011-12, tax free, secured, redeemable, non-convertible bonds of rupees 1,000 each, aggregating to rupees three thousand crores subject to the conditions specified namely:-

(a) Tenure of Bonds: The tenure of the bonds shall be ten years or fifteen years;

(b) Permanent Account Number (PAN): It shall be mandatory for the subscribers to furnish their PAN to the issuer;

(c) Rate of Interest: The interest on the bonds shall be not less than fifty basis points lower than the yield on the Government Securities of equivalent residual maturity as reported by the Fixed Income Money Market and Derivative Association of India, as on the last working day of the month immediately preceding the month of the issue of the bonds:

Provided that a higher coupon rate of up to 20 basis points may be offered to Retail Individual Investor vis-a-vis the rate offered to Qualified Institutional Buyers (QIBs), corporate and High Networth Individuals (HNIs):

Provided further that higher rate of interest shall not be available in case the bonds are transferred, except in case of transfer to legal heir in the event of death of the original investor:

(d) Commission on sale.- (i) the commission on sale shall be capped at a maximum of a flat fee of 1.25% of the issue size;

(ii) The flat fee shall include the total expense for the issue of bonds, including the expenses for advertisement, brokerage, printing, collection, canvassing charges, road shows and all other charges spent for this process.

(iii) Provided that the brokerage shall not exceed 0.15 per cent in the case of Qualified Institutional Buyers and corporate and 0.35 per cent in the case of High Networth Individuals.

(e) The benefit under the said section shall be admissible only if the holder of such bonds registers his, her or its name and the holding with the entity.

(f) The entity shall issue the bonds only by way of public issue, and not by way of private placement.

■■

Notified Bonds and debentures of public sector companies under section 10 (15) (iv) (h)

Section 10(15), item (h) of sub-clause (iv) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 - Exemptions - Interest on bonds/debentures - Notified bonds/debentures of Public Sector Companies

Notification No.6/2012 [F.No. 178/56/2011-(ITA.I)], dated 14-2-2012

S.O. (E).- In exercise of the powers conferred by item (h) of sub-clause (iv) of clause (15) of section 10 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (43 of 1961), the Central Government hereby makes following amendment to the notification of the Government of India, Ministry of Finance (Department of Revenue), published in the Gazette of India, Extraordinary, Part II, Section 3, Sub-section (ii), vide number S.O. 2210(E), dated the 23rd September, 2011, namely :-

In the said notification, in the Table, for serial number 2 and the entries relating thereto, the following serial number and entries shall be substituted, namely:-

S. No. (1)	Entities (2)	Aggregate Amount of Bonds (3)
"2.	Indian Railway Finance Corporation Ltd.	Rs. 7,000 crores"

Clarification - Purchase of Immovable Property in India – Reporting requirement

RBI/2011/12/399
A.P. (DIR Series) Circular No. 79

February 15, 2012

To

All
Authorised Dealers in Foreign Exchange

Madam /Sir,

Clarification - Purchase of Immovable Property in India –
Reporting requirement

1.Attention of Authorised Dealer Category-I banks is invited to Regulation 5 of Notification No. FEMA 21/2000-RB viz. Foreign Exchange Management (Acquisition and Transfer of Immovable Property in India), Regulations, 2000 dated May 3, 2000, as amended from time to time. In terms of the above Regulation, when a person resident outside India, who has established in India in accordance with the Foreign Exchange Management (Establishment in India of Branch or Office or other Place of Business) Regulations, 2000, a branch, office or other place of business, excluding a liaison office, acquires any immovable property in India in accordance with the provision of said regulation, the said person has to file with the Reserve Bank a declaration in the form IPI annexed to those regulations, not later than ninety days from the date of such acquisition. As the form is required to be submitted by such persons only, the form is suitably amended to reflect the position.

2.  It is clarified that the extant regulations do not prescribe any reporting requirements for transactions where a person resident outside India who is a citizen of India or a Person of Indian Origin (PIO) as defined in Regulation 2(c) of Notification No. FEMA 21/2000-RB, ibid, acquire/s immovable property in India in accordance with the said provisions of the aforesaid Notification. Form IPI has been, accordingly, amended for greater clarity.

3. Authorised Dealer Category-I banks may bring the contents of this circular to the notice of their constituents and customers concerned.

4. The directions contained in this circular have been issued under sections 10(4) and 11(1) of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), 1999 (42 of 1999) and are without prejudice to permissions / approvals, if any, required under any other law.

Yours faithfully,

(Meena Hemchandra)

Chief General Manager-in-Charge

Annex

[Annex to A.P. (DIR Series) Circular No. 79
dated February 15, 2012]

Form IPI

( See Regulation 5 )

Declaration of immovable property acquired in Indiaby a person resident outside India who has established in India a branch, office or other place of business, excluding a liaison office

Instructions:

1. The declaration should be completed in duplicate and submitted directly to the Chief General Manager, Foreign Exchange  Department, (Foreign Investment Division), Reserve Bank  of India , Central Office , Mumbai – 400001 within 90 days from the date of acquisition of the immovable property.
2. This form is not to be submitted by a person resident outside India who is a citizen of India or a Person of Indian Origin (PIO) acquiring immovable property in India under General Permission in accordance with Regulations 3 and 4 of Notification No. FEMA 21/2000-RB dated May 3, 2000.

Documentation:

Certified copies of letter of approval from Reserve Bank obtained under section 6(6) of FEMA, 1999 (42 of 1999).

1		Full name and address of the acquirer who has acquired the immovable property
2	(a)	Description of immovable property	(a)
	(b)	Details of its exact location stating the name of the state, town and municipal/survey number, etc	(b)
3	(a)	Purpose for which the immovable property has been acquired	(a)
	(b)	Number and date of Reserve Bank’s permission , if any	(b)
4		Date of aquisition of the immovable property
5	(a)	How the immovable property was acquired i.e. whether by way of purchase or lease	(a)
	(b)	Name , citizenship and address of the seller/lessor	(b)
	(c)	Amount of purchase price and sources of funds	(c)

I/ We
hereby declare that-

(a) the particulars given above are true and correct to the best of my/our knowledge and belief;

(b) no portion of the said property has been leased /rented to, or is otherwise being allowed to be used by, any other party.

-------------------------------------

(Signature of Authorised official)

Name:------------------------------

Designation:---------------------

Encls:

Stamp

Place: -------

Date:--------

Export of Goods and Services-Simplification and Revision of Softex Procedure

RESERVE BANK OF INDIA

Foreign Exchange Department

Central Office

Mumbai - 400 001

_________________________________________________

RBI/2011/12/400                                     February 15, 2012
A.P. (DIR Series) Circular No. 80

To
All Authorised Dealers in Foreign Exchange

Madam / Sir,

Export of Goods and Services-

Simplification and Revision of Softex Procedure

1.Attention of the Authorised Dealers is invited to Regulation 6 of the Notification No.FEMA 23/2000-RB dated May 3, 2000 viz. Foreign Exchange Management (Export of Goods and Services) Regulations, 2000, as amended by the Notification No.FEMA 36/2001-RB dated February 2, 2001, in terms of which designated officials of the Ministry of Information Technology, Government of India at the Software Technology Parks of India (STPIs) or at Free Trade Zones (FTZs) or Export Processing Zones (EPZs) or Special Economic Zones(SEZs), had been authorised to certify exports declared through SOFTEX Forms.

2. Considering the spurt in the volume of software exports from India in recent times, the complexity of work contracts involved, the voluminous nature of contract agreements and the duration involved in execution of each contract as well as the time-consuming process involved in the certification of SOFTEX forms, the matter was revisited and a revised procedure, given herein below, has now been finalised in consultation with the stakeholders involved.

3. As per the revised procedure, a software exporter, whose annual turnover is at least Rs. 1000 crore or who files at least 600 SOFTEX forms annually, will be eligible to submit a statement in excel format as per Annexure A, giving all particulars alongwith quadruplicate set of SOFTEX form to the nearest STPI. STPI will then verify the details and decide on a percentage sample check of the documents in details. Software companies will submit all the documents on demand to STPI within 30 days of their advice or any reasonable/extended time at the discretion of the Director, STPI, at the request from the exporter. STPI will thus certify the statement and SOFTEX forms in bulk on the “Top Sheet” regarding the values etc. and will thereafter forward the first copy of the revised SOFTEX format to the concerned Regional Office of RBI, the duplicate copy alongwith bulk statement in excel format to Authorised Dealers for negotiation / collection / settlement, the third copy to the exporter and the last copy will be retained by STPI for its own record. Under the revised procedure, the exporters, however, will have to provide information about all the invoices including the ones lesser than US$25000, in the bulk statement in excel format. [The revised procedure for submission of the Softex form and other relevant documents are detailed in the Annex.]

4. The new procedure will be effective initially in STPI Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune and Mumbai with effect from April 01, 2012. Based on the success in these centers, it would be adopted by all the STPIs and SEZ/ EPZ/ 100% EOU/ EHTP/ DTA units by June 2012.

5. Authorised Dealers may bring the contents of this circular to the notice of their constituents concerned.

6. The directions contained in this circular have been issued under Section 10(4) and Section 11(1) of the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (42 of 1999) and are without prejudice to permissions / approvals, if any, required under any other law.

Yours faithfully,

(Rashmi Fauzdar)

Chief General Manager

___________________________________________

ANNEX

[Annex to A.P. (DIR Series) Circular No. 80

dated February 15, 2012]

1. Revised Procedure : Reporting of Software exports to STPI

A. Periodicity – Monthly

B. Time period – Not later than 30 days from the close of the month in which the invoice is raised

C. Applicability – Software exporters with annual turnover in excess of Rs. 1,000 crore or submitting at least 600 Softex forms annually.

D. Softex Number – Softex number shall be allocated/issued centrally by RBI once a year based on the requirements of exporter which can be about 200,000 numbers to be used by large exporters for the year for all locations. If the softex numbers are exhausted, the exporter can apply again to RBI for allotment of number. Exporters can use the allocated Softex number either for each invoice or for a group of invoices with same currency of a particular customer. Softex number would be the control number for identifying any of the export transaction.

E. Details of information – As per the template in Annexure A, which will broadly cover information as under

i. Name and Address of the Exporter

ii. Letter of permission number and date

iii. Name of authorized data com service provider

iv. Import Export Code number

v. Software Export Declaration

vi. Details of Export of Software during the period

a) Period of submission i.e. Month name

b) SOFTEX Number

c) Name of Client

d) Address of Client

e) Country of Export

f) Invoice Number

g) Invoice Date

h) Project Code or Contract or Agreement or PO & Date

i) Type of Software Exported

j) Invoice Currency

k) Offshore Invoice value

vii. Details of billings on account of Royalty on Software Packages/products exported as per Annexure B

a) Period of submission i.e., Month name

b) SOFTEX Number

c) Name of Client

d) Address of Client

e) Country of Export

f) Invoice Number

g) Invoice Date

h) Unique internal Project Code or Contract/Agreement/PO Date

i) Invoice Currency

j) Offshore Invoice value

k) Details of Software Package(s)/product(s) exported

l) Royalty agreement details

1. % age and amount of royalty

2. Period of Royalty agreement

3. Mode of realisation of Royalty value

4. Calculation of Royalty amount

viii. The Authorized dealer’s name should be given in Section A of individual bulk statement itself along with email id (Annexure A & B). If there are multiple ADs, then exporter may provide full details - i.e., Details such as bank name, address and Authorized Dealer code plus

a) Details of Letter of Credit(L/C) facilty availed by the exporter

b) Details of Bank Guarantee taken by the exporter

c) Details of the Bank Accounts into which the transfer/remittance are received

ix. Email id of the Exporter shall be specified to which the attested Bulk Softex statement will be sent

F. Soft copy Submission – Software Exports Declaration in summary excel sheet with above details.

G. Hard copy submission – Covering letter along with summary sheet declarations and Annexure copies in quadruplicate. Copies of Softex forms, Invoices, SoW, MSA or any other document are not required to be submitted along with summary.

H. Additional Information – At the request of STPI, software exporter need to submit additional details about selected sample invoices within 30 days of the request or any reasonable extended time at the discretion of the Director , STPI at the request from the exporter.

I. Time Period for additional Information – STPI would do sample audit periodically but not during the period beyond six months, to make the records concurrent with the filing of the Softex. This however, doesn’t stop the regulator from asking old records as per FEMA.

J. STPI will send the attested Bulk Softex statement in hardcopy to software exporter and soft copy to RBI, Regional Office, Authorized Dealer and Exporter with password protection (to be provided by STPI)

K. Authorized Dealer will upload this information in their systems for further processing

L. Authorized Dealer will settle the Softex using AD internal control number based on details provided by Exporter on collections as per Annexure C

2. Reporting of Software export Realizations to Authorized Dealer (AD)

Software Exporters can have collection account overseas or get credit directly in the bank accounts maintained in India, where individual invoices raised on customers are collected. After meeting “onsite” branch expenses, as permitted by FEMA, net amount will be remitted to India. This would also include 100% realization of offsite exports.

A. Periodicity – Quarterly

B. Applicability – Software exporters with annual turnover in excess of Rs. 1,000 crore or submitting in excess of 600 Softex forms annually.

C. Details of information – As per Annexure C, which will cover information as under

i. Name and Address of the Exporter

ii. Import Export Code number

iii. Details of invoice wise collections (Attachment A)

a) SOFTEX Number

b) Name of Customer

c) Invoice Number

d) Invoice Date

e) Invoice Currency

f) Offshore Invoice value

g) Offshore Invoice value realized

h) Date of Realization of exports proceeds

i) Name of the Bank

j) Country of the Bank

iv. Details of Foreign Currency Inward Remittance in India(Attachment B). Authorized Dealers will give a control number for this Attachment B, which shall be used by them to settle all the softex forms in Attachment A

a) Inward remittance in India from overseas bank accounts

1. Name and address of the Authorized Dealer at which the amount has been received

2. Inward remittance details like FIRC number, date, amount and foreign currency

3. Name and address of the Overseas bank from which remittance has been effected

b) Direct Inward remittance in India from customers against exports of software

1. Name and address of the Authorized Dealer at which the amount has been received

2. Inward remittance details like FIRC number, date, amount and foreign currency

3. Name and address of the Customer from which remittance has been received

v. Documentation: FIRCs to be given to AD for endorsement along with above details

vi. Software exporters will furnish the credit notes to AD for invoices which have already been certified by STPI and settle the respective Softex forms.

3. Online Submission of Periodic Software Exports Declaration

STPI is in the process of computerizing the submission of Softex form. STPI would be required to ensure that the computerisation of the Softex forms and the populating of the data must be compatible to 'Softex Card Design' as detailed in Annexure E and be able to generate a report in 'ENC file format' as detailed in Annexure D

N.B. In the event of full computerisation at the STPIs, the exporters will upload their bulk statement to the STPI system which will be verified and certified by the STPI and the certified information will flow to RBI, Regional Office, Exporter as well as AD online. The data will eventually flow to DSIM, RBI for record with a copy retained at STPI.

Annexure