Foreign
Exchange Management (Insurance) Regulations, 2000
FEMA 12/2000-RB, dated
3-5-2000 [GSR 395(E), dated 3-5-2000] - In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section
(2) of section 47 of the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (42 of 1999),
the Reserve Bank makes the following regulations with respect to the holding
by a person resident in India of a general or life insurance policy issued by
an insurer outside India, namely :—
(i) These Regulations may be called the
Foreign Exchange Management (Insurance) Regulations, 2000.
(ii) They shall come into force on 1st day of June, 2000.
In these Regulations, unless
the context otherwise requires,—
(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 meaning respectively assigned
to them in the Act.
1[Permission
to take or hold a general insurance policy issued by an insurer outside India.
(i) A person resident in India may take or
continue to hold a general insurance policy issued by an insurer outside India,
provided that, the policy is held, under a specific or general permission of
the Central Government.
(ii) A person resident in India may continue
to hold any general insurance policy issued by an insurer outside India when
such person was resident outside India :
Provided that where the premium due
on a general insurance policy has been paid by making remittance from India,
the policy holder shall repatriate to India through normal banking channels,
the maturity proceeds or amount of any claim due on the policy, within a period
of seven days from the receipt thereof.
Permission to take or hold a life insurance policy issued by an insurer outside India.
(i) A person resident in India may take or
continue to hold a life insurance policy issued by an insurer outside India,
provided that, the policy is held, under a specific or general permission of
the Reserve Bank of India.
(ii) A person resident in India may continue
to hold any life insurance policy issued by an insurer outside India when such
person was resident outside India :
Provided that where the premium due
on a life insurance policy has been paid by making remittance from India, the
policy holder shall repatriate to India through normal banking channels, the
maturity proceeds or amount of any claim due on the policy, within a period of
seven days from the receipt thereof.]
[K1]. Substituted by the
FEM (Insurance) (Amendment) Regulations, 2003, w.e.f. 5-6-2003. Earlier
it was inserted by the FEM (Insurance) (Amendment) Regulations, 2002, w.e.f.
2-5-2002, it read as under :
“3.Prohibition
on taking general or Life Insurance Policy issued by an insurer outside India.—Save
as otherwise provided in the Act, rules or regulations made or orders or
directions issued under the Act, no person resident in India shall take any
general or Life Insurance Policy issued by an insurer outside India :
Provided
that the Reserve Bank may, for sufficient reasons, permit a person resident in
India to take any life insurance policy issued by an insurer outside India :
Provided
further that the prohibition against taking general insurance policy issued
by an insurer outside India shall not apply to a unit located in Special
Economic Zone.
4.
Permission to continue to hold a policy taken.— (1) A person resident in
India but not permanently resident therein may continue to hold any insurance
policy issued to him by an insurer outside India, if the premium on such policy
is paid out of foreign currency resources outside India.
Explanation
- For the purpose of this clause, ‘not permanently resident’ means a person
resident in India for employment of a specified duration (irrespective of
length thereof) or for a specific job or assignment, the duration of which does
not exceed three years.
(2)
A person resident in India may take or continue to hold a general insurance
policy issued by an insurer outside India, provided that, before taking the
policy in either case, he had obtained a no objection certificate from the
Central Government.
(3)
(i) A person resident in India may continue to hold any insurance policy
issued by an insurer outside India when such person was resident outside India
:
Provided
that the premium on the policy is paid out of his foreign currency account
maintained with a bank outside India or out of funds held in his Resident
Foreign Currency account maintained with an authorised dealer :
Provided
further that where the policy is a life insurance policy in force for a
period of not less than three years prior of the policyholder’s return to
India, the premium due on the policy may also be paid by making remittance from
India.
(ii)
The maturity proceeds/amount of claim received in respect of the policy
referred to in sub-clause (i), may be credited to the policyholder’s
foreign currency account maintained with a bank outside India or, as the case
may be, to his Resident Foreign Currency account maintained with an authorised
dealer in India :
Provided
that where the premium due on a Life Insurance Policy has been paid by making
remittance from India, the policyholder shall repatriate to India through
normal banking channels, the maturity proceeds or amount of any claim due on
the policy, within a period of seven days from the receipt thereof.”