RBI Update - Foreign Exchange Management (Mode of Payment and Reporting of Non-Debt Instruments) (Amendment) Regulations, 2026

The Reserve Bank of India has amended the Foreign Exchange Management (Mode of Payment and Reporting of Non-Debt Instruments) Regulations, 2019 to operationalise the recent liberalisation of foreign portfolio investments by individual persons resident outside India. The amendment expands Schedule III to permit all eligible individual foreign investors, including NRIs and OCIs, to invest in listed Indian companies on a repatriation basis through designated repatriable rupee accounts, with consideration payable through inward remittances or repatriable deposit accounts. Corresponding provisions have been introduced for remittance of sale proceeds and investments under the International Exchanges Scheme (Schedule XI). Further, the reporting framework has been revised by replacing the existing LEC reporting requirement with Form LEC (IFI), under which designated Authorised Dealer Category-I banks are required to report purchases and transfers of equity instruments by individual foreign investors, including NRIs and OCIs, on Indian stock exchanges. The amendments come into force from the date of publication in the Official Gazette and are intended to facilitate broader foreign participation in Indian capital markets while ensuring appropriate regulatory oversight.