In a Historical turn of events, India has reached FATCA agreement in substance with the USA and has consented to be included in the list of jurisdictions that are treated as having a Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) under Model-1 with an effective date of April 11, 2014..…THIS IS HUGE….I have been telling […]
Looking at the success of the Leveraged FCNR deposits, increased interest of NRIs of investment in Leveraged products, continuous inquiry from NRIs to increase their returns and lower LIBOR rates, financial services industry is very much interested to come up with the products that offer Capital Protection/Guarantee of Capital in Foreign […]
Recently, due to volatile rupee and favorable currency exchange rates, Banks have been aggressively marketing to NRIs for investments in the FCNR deposits with Forward cover highlighting a limited time opportunity comparing the yields with NRE Fixed Deposits. Banks have been selling the idea as an Arbitrage (Risk Free) opportunity between […]
On August 14, 2013, RBI made 5 important changes to address the depreciating rupee. Whenever RBI takes such measures, NRIs are sure to benefit. Two changes are aimed at attracting foreign exchange from NRIs in long term NRE or FCNR bank deposits and other three are related to preserving the foreign […]
India has always been the most rewarding and sought after destination for investments for NRIs due to higher interest rates and growth potential. However, their experience may not be excellent mainly due to theirs or their advisors’ ignorance of rules and regulations specific to NRIs for investments or taxation or both. […]
With FCNR rates regulated by RBI and volatile foreign currency market, a lot of banks have introduced and are marketing products for NRIs to generate more return on FCNR deposits. While there are catchy names used for the plans by various banks, like RupeeMax (HDFC Bank), Rupee Advantage Plan (Kotak), FCNB […]
FATCA Basics: The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), enacted in 2010, is an important development in U.S. efforts to combat tax evasion by U.S. persons holding investments in offshore (out of USA) accounts. Under FATCA, 1. U.S. taxpayers holding financial assets outside the United States must report those assets to […]
A lot of NRIs have shown interest in transferring funds from NRO to NRE since the notification came out on May 7, 2012. However, very few have actually transferred funds. This is mainly due to the lack of awareness or experience in newly issued notification in case of NRIs, Banks as […]
On July 18, 2012, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) vide notifications RBI/2012-13/136 and 137, DBOD.Dir.BC. 29 and 30/13.03.00/2012-13 withdrew the discretion given to banks to allow the benefit of additional interest rate of one per cent per annum on NRE, NRO and FCNR (B) deposit accounts. Banks in India offer benefit of additional […]
CBEC (Central Board of Excise and Customs) Circular No. 163/14/2012 –ST dated July 10, 2012 clarified that there is no service tax per se on the amount of foreign currency remitted to India from overseas. This is a good news for NRIs as they will not be charged any service tax on money […]