Reserve Bank of India (RBI) amends reporting for foreign investment in Single Master Form (SMF) on the portal i.e., Foreign Investment Reporting and Management System (FIRMS)

RBI has simplified the process of reporting of foreign investment in SMF on FIRMS portal.

The simplified process has been summarized below:

• The requisite forms will be auto-acknowledged with a time stamp on the FIRMS portal and an auto-generated e-mail will be sent to the applicant. 
  
  
• The submitted forms will be verified by the authorized dealer (AD) bank within five working days based on the uploaded documents.
  
  
• Post verification of submitted form, the AD banks may direct to pay the Late Submission Fee (LSF) to the applicants or direct for compounding of contravention in case of delay. LSF is applicable in cases where the forms are submitted with a delay up to three years. For delay beyond three years, compounding would be applicable.
  
  
• Once the LSF amount is realized, the Regional Office (RO) concerned with the RBI will update the status in the FIRMS portal and it will be communicated to the applicant through a system generated e-mail.
  
  
• The remarks will be communicated to the applicant through a system generated e-mail and the same can also be viewed in the FIRMS portal in case of rejection of the form.

Source: A.P. (DIR Series) Circular No. 22 dated 4 January 2023