Foreign Exchange Management (Acquisition and transfer of immovable property outside India) Regulations, 2000
FEMA 7/2000-RB, dated
3-5-2000 [GSR 390(E), dated 3-5-2000] - In exercise of the powers conferred by clause (h)
of sub-section (3) of section 6, sub-section (2) of section 47 of the Foreign
Exchange Management Act, 1999 (42 of 1999), the Reserve Bank hereby makes the
following regulations relating to acquisition and transfer of immovable
property outside India, namely:—
(i) These regulations may be called the
Foreign Exchange Management (Acquisition and Transfer of Immovable Property Outside
India) Regulations, 2000.
(ii) They shall come into force on 1st day of
June, 2000.
In these regulations, unless
the context requires otherwise,—
(i) ‘Act’
means the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (42 of 1999);
(ii) The words and expressions used but not
defined in these Regulations shall have the same meanings respectively assigned
to them in the Act.
Restriction on acquisition or transfer of immovable property outside India.
Save as otherwise provided
in the Act or in these regulations, no person resident in India shall
acquire or transfer any immovable property situated outside India without
general or special permission of the Reserve Bank.
Nothing contained in these
regulations shall apply to the property —
(a) held
by a person resident in India who is a national of a foreign state;
(b) acquired by a person resident in India on
or before 8th July, 1947 and continued to be held by him with the permission of
the Reserve Bank.
Acquisition and
Transfer of Immovable Property Outside India.
(1) A person resident in India may acquire immovable property
outside India,—
(a) by way of gift or inheritance from a
person referred to in sub-section (4) of section 6 of the Act, or referred to
in clause (b) of regulation 4;
(b) by way of purchase out of foreign
exchange held in Resident Foreign Currency (RFC) account maintained in
accordance with the Foreign Exchange Management (Foreign Currency Accounts by a
Person Resident in India) Regulations, 2000;
(2) A person resident in India, who has
acquired immovable property outside India under sub-regulation (1) of this
regulation, may transfer it by way of gift to his relative who is a person
resident in India.
1[(3) Reserve Bank may, on an application made to it, permit a company
incorporated in India having overseas offices, to acquire immovable property
outside India for its business and for residential purposes of its staff, subject
to such terms and conditions as may be considered necessary.]
Explanation - For the purposes of this
regulation, ‘relative’ in relation to an individual means husband, wife,
brother or sister or any lineal ascendant or descendant of that individual.
[K1]Inserted by the FEM (Acquisition and Transfer of Immovable Property outside India) (Amendment) Regulations, 2003, w.e.f. 13-10-2003.