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Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS) Full Information

Under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS) , all resident individuals, including minors, are allowed to freely remit up to USD 2,50,000 per financial year (1st April – 31st March) for any permissible current or capital account transaction or a combination of both.

Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS) was introduced on February 4, 2004, with a limit of USD 25,000. The LRS limit has been revised in stages as per economic conditions and present Limit is USD 250000.

In case of remitter being a minor:The LRS declaration form must be countersigned by the minor’s natural guardian.
Who can’t remit fund: Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS) is not available to corporates, partnership firms, HUF, Trusts etc.
Purpose under LRS:Individuals can avail of foreign exchange facility for the following purposes within the LRS limit of USD 2,50,000 on financial year basis:
Private visits to any country (except Nepal and Bhutan)
Gift or donation
Going abroad for employment
Emigration
Maintenance of close relatives abroad
Travel for business, or attending a conference or specialised training or for meeting expenses for meeting medical expenses, or check-up abroad, or for accompanying as attendant to a patient going abroad for medical treatment/ check-up
Expenses in connection with medical treatment abroad
Studies abroad
Any other current account transaction which is not covered under the definition of current account in FEMA 1999.
The AD bank may undertake the remittance transaction without RBI’s permission for all residual current account transactions which are not prohibited/ restricted transactions under Schedule I, II or III of FEM (CAT) Rules, 2000, as amended or are defined in FEMA 1999. It is for the AD to satisfy themselves about the genuineness of the transaction, as hitherto.

Family Member Clause : Remittances under the facility can be consolidated in respect of close family members subject to the individual family members complying with the terms and conditions of the Scheme. However, clubbing is not permitted by other family members for capital account transactions such as opening a bank account/investment/purchase of property, if they are not the co-owners/co-partners of the investment/property/overseas bank account. Further, a resident cannot gift to another resident, in foreign currency, for the credit of the latter’s foreign currency account held abroad under LRS.
Banker’s Responsibility :AD will be guided by the nature of transaction as declared by the remitter in Form A2 and will thereafter certify that the remittance is in conformity with the instructions issued by the Reserve Bank in this regard from time to time. However, the ultimate responsibility is of the remitter to ensure compliance to the extant FEMA rules/regulations.
PAN Requirement :It is mandatory for the resident individual to provide his/her Permanent Account Number (PAN) for all transactions under LRS made through Authorized Persons.
Frequency under LRS :There are no restrictions on the frequency of remittances under LRS. However, the total amount of foreign exchange purchased from or remitted through, all sources in India during a financial year should be within the cumulative limit of USD 2,50,000.

Once a remittance is made for an amount up to USD 2,50,000 during the financial year, a resident individual would not be eligible to make any further remittances under this scheme, even if the proceeds of the investments have been brought back into the country.
There are no restrictions towards remittances for current account transactions to Mauritius and Pakistan.

Restrictions :Remittances directly or indirectly to countries identified by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) as “non- cooperative countries and territories”, from time to time; and remittances directly or indirectly to those individuals and entities identified as posing significant risk of committing acts of terrorism as advised separately by the Reserve Bank to the banks are not permissible.

The individual will have to designate a branch of an AD through which all the capital account remittances under the Scheme will be made. The applicants should have maintained the bank account with the bank for a minimum period of one year prior to the remittance.

For remittances pertaining to permissible current account transactions, if the applicant seeking to make the remittance is a new customer of the bank, Authorised Dealers should carry out due diligence on the opening, operation and maintenance of the account. Further, the AD should obtain bank statement for the previous year from the applicant to satisfy themselves regarding the source of funds. If such a bank statement is not available, copies of the latest Income Tax Assessment Order or Return filed by the applicant may be obtained. He has to furnish Form A-2 regarding the purpose of the remittance and declare that the funds belong to him and will not be used for purposes prohibited or regulated under the Scheme.
Permissible Currency :The remittances can be made in any freely convertible foreign currency.
Clarification on remittance by sole proprietor under LRS.In a sole proprietorship business, there is no legal distinction between the individual / owner and as such the owner of the business can remit USD up to the permissible limit under LRS. If a sole proprietorship firm intends to remit the money under LRS by debiting its current account then the eligibility of the proprietor in his individual capacity has to be reckoned. Hence, if an individual in his own capacity remits USD 250,000 in a financial year under LRS, he cannot remit another USD 250,000 in the capacity of owner of the sole proprietorship business as there is no legal distinction.
Prior approval is not required to open, maintain and hold foreign currency account with a bank outside India for making remittances under the LRS?
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