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The Tax Publishers Simplified Foreign Investment Reporting in India : A New Paradigm V.N. Damodar RBI's initiative to consolidate the existing reporting structure regarding foreign investment transactions is expected to be a sigh of relief for foreign investors and Indian entities which will lead to transparency and uniformity in the Indian market. Learned author seeks to inform about anonline application run by RBI i.e., Foreign Investment Reporting and Management System (FIRMS), being made available in two phases viz., Entity Master and Single Master Form. 1. Introduction In order to integrate the existing reporting structure of certain foreign investments in India so as to simplify the reporting under Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (FEMA), Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has issued a Notification dt. 7-6-2018 whereby a Single Master Form (SMF) for reporting would be introduced that would subsume all the existing reports and would be filed online. In order to implement it, an online application has been introduced by RBI called 'Foreign Investment Reporting and Management System (FIRMS)' which would provide for the SMF. Prior to the implementation of SMF an interface had been provided to Indian Entities to input the data of total foreign investment in a specified format. Indian Entity as defined under Foreign Exchange Management(Transfer or issue of security by a person resident outside India) Regulations, 2017 to mean an Indian company or an LLP, not complying with such pre-requisite would not be able to receive foreign investment and would be treated as non-compliant with FEMA, 1999 and regulations made thereunder. SUBSCRIBE FOR FULL CONTENT

The Tax Publishers

Simplified Foreign Investment Reporting in India : A New Paradigm

V.N. Damodar

RBI's initiative to consolidate the existing reporting structure regarding foreign investment transactions is expected to be a sigh of relief for foreign investors and Indian entities which will lead to transparency and uniformity in the Indian market. Learned author seeks to inform about anonline application run by RBI i.e., Foreign Investment Reporting and Management System (FIRMS), being made available in two phases viz., Entity Master and Single Master Form.

1. Introduction

In order to integrate the existing reporting structure of certain foreign investments in India so as to simplify the reporting under Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (FEMA), Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has issued a Notification dt. 7-6-2018 whereby a Single Master Form (SMF) for reporting would be introduced that would subsume all the existing reports and would be filed online. In order to implement it, an online application has been introduced by RBI called 'Foreign Investment Reporting and Management System (FIRMS)' which would provide for the SMF. Prior to the implementation of SMF an interface had been provided to Indian Entities to input the data of total foreign investment in a specified format. Indian Entity as defined under Foreign Exchange Management(Transfer or issue of security by a person resident outside India) Regulations, 2017 to mean an Indian company or an LLP, not complying with such pre-requisite would not be able to receive foreign investment and would be treated as non-compliant with FEMA, 1999 and regulations made thereunder.