Rationalisation of reporting in the Single Master Form (SMF) on the FIRMS Portal for Foreign Investment in India through the notification: RBI/2022-23/160 A.P. (DIR Series) Circular No. 22

Posted On - 17 January, 2023 • By - King Stubb & Kasiva

Authorized Dealer Category-I banks (AD banks) are urged to read A.P. (DIR Series) Circular No. 30, which was published on June 7, 2018.

It is recommended that you take note of the following adjustments being made to the FIRMS portal’s reporting of foreign investment in SMF:

  1. The portal will automatically acknowledge any forms that are submitted. The AD banks must validate the information based on the uploaded documents within five working days.
  2. When reporting is delayed, the AD banks must either inform the applicants of the system-generated Late Submission Fee (LSF) or, if appropriate, suggest compounding the contravention, as the case may be.

For ease of reference, the key aspects of the system changes are listed in the Annexure. The FIRMS manual, which is available at https://firms.rbi.org.in, may be referred to for full instructions, and the version of the handbook on the site shall prevail in the event of a discrepancy.

Annexure:

Automated SMF acknowledgement in FIRMS and online LSF calculation

Now the forms submitted through FIRMS will be handled as described below:

  1. All forms that are submitted with the required supporting documentation are automatically acknowledged on the FIRMS portal with a time stamp and an auto-generated email is sent to the applicant as well.
  2. The AD banks will evaluate the forms submitted within the specified deadlines based on the uploaded mandatory documents and ensurethat they are compliant with the current rules.
  3. If there was a reporting delay, the system would detect it.
  4. The AD banks will approve forms submitted with a delay of less than or equal to three years subject to payment of LSF.
  5. The system will calculate the LSF, and an email with the amount and the deadline for payment to the concerned Regional Office (RO) of the RBI will be delivered to the applicant and the concerned RO.
  6. The concerned RO will update the status in the FIRMS portal as soon as the LSF amount is realised, and the applicant will be informed of the updated status via a system-generated email that may also be accessed in the FIRMS portal.
  7. Subject to the compounding of violations, the AD bank will approve the forms submitted with a delay of more than three years. After that, the candidate may approach RBI with their compounding application.
  8. The applicant will be notified of the AD Bank’s remarks regarding the rejection of their application through a system-generated email, and they may also be accessed in the FIRMS portal.