Indians sending money abroad have a few days left in this financial year to make full use of the RBI’s Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS). Sending Indian Rupees abroad for buying international stocks, properties, or for meeting your child’s foreign education requires approval from the Reserve Bank of India. Indian nationals have to adhere to the RBI’s Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS) rules while sending any outward remittances.
Under the RBI’s Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS), every resident, including minors (countersigned by a guardian), is allowed to remit up to 2.5 lakh US dollars (USD 2,50,000) per fiscal year. So, if you want to avail of the limit of the RBI LRS scheme for this FY, make sure you remit by March 31, 2025.
Also Read : DA hiked by 2%: How much salary will central government employees get?
At an exchange rate of Rs 86 to a dollar, it is about Rs 2,15,00,000 or Rs 2.15 crore.
If one remits 2.5 lakh dollars before March 31 and repeats the process at the start of the next fiscal year, 5 lakh dollars can be remitted abroad per individual over a few days.
Indian residents can purchase dollars from authorized dealers using Indian rupees (INR), which can be used to buy assets like US shares abroad or spend there.
The rules state that foreign exchange (forex) can only be remitted for permissible current account transactions, capital account transactions, or a combination of the two.
A big chunk of the remittances by Indians is moving into financial assets abroad. October 2024 data showed there was an increase of 78% year-on-year increase in overseas equity and debt investments under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS).
If you are considering diversifying into US stocks, you need to go through an international brokerage platform. After converting your INR to dollars, you can bring in diversification to your portfolio of stocks by adding global companies to it.
The route is simple and easy and it starts with opening an international trading account from India. The brokerage firm helps you to meet LRS formalities, complete KYC requirements, and in transferring of funds from your Indian bank to the newly opened foreign bank account. Once done, you are good to go and buy top US stocks from India.
If you have made a remittance under the RBI’s Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS), you must act immediately on the new LRS rule.
According to the new RBI rule, if you have any unused foreign exchange stashed abroad, you must return it within a certain time frame. “With effect from 24 August 2022, the foreign exchange realised/ unspent/ unused and not reinvested, is to be repatriated and surrendered to an authorised person within 180 days from the date of such receipt/ realisation/ purchase/ acquisition or date of return to India,” mentions the RSM Astute Consulting Newflash report.
