RBI withdraws relaxation on export earnings repatriation

Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has withdrawn a relaxation that would have allowed exporters more time to bring overseas earnings back to the country, retaining a 9-month repatriation deadline instead of the 15 months notified earlier.

Effectively, the regulator has reversed a previously notified relaxation before it was due to come into force on October 1.

The shorter timeline is expected to accelerate the repatriation of export proceeds, add to dollar liquidity in the domestic foreign-exchange market, and provide support to the rupee.


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In January, the central bank notified consolidated regulations giving exporters 15 months from the date of shipment of goods or the invoicing of services to realise and repatriate the full export value. Those regulations were scheduled to take effect on October 1.

On Friday, the RBI replaced the 15-month period with 9 months. The revised deadline will apply to exports of goods and services, as well as goods exported to warehouses outside India.

For warehouse exports, the 9-month period will be calculated from the date of sale.

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The change means exporters will have less time to keep receivables outstanding overseas and will have to bring foreign-currency earnings back to India sooner than they would have under the regulations notified in January.

Earlier repatriation of export receipts could increase the availability of dollars in the local market, particularly when exporters convert those earnings into rupees, bankers said.

The RBI has intervened consistently in the foreign-exchange market over the past month through a combination of spot and forward operations, including sell-buy swaps.

The rupee has traded in a range of 95.75 to 95.95 against the dollar over the past two weeks, with the central bank acting to prevent it from weakening beyond 96, market participants said.

The likely intervention to support the rupee contributed to a nearly $15 billion decline in India's foreign-exchange reserves to $766 billion in the week ended September 18, RBI data showed.

The RBI has also empowered authorised dealer banks to handle export, import and merchanting-trade transactions undertaken before October 1 that previously required the central bank's approval under the earlier foreign-exchange regulations and master directions.