{"id":90903,"date":"2026-10-26T10:52:29","date_gmt":"2026-10-26T05:22:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.taxaj.com/learn\/fema-compounding-regional-offices-odi-ecb-guarantees\/"},"modified":"2026-10-26T10:52:29","modified_gmt":"2026-10-26T05:22:29","slug":"fema-compounding-regional-offices-odi-ecb-guarantees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.taxaj.com/learn\/fema-compounding-regional-offices-odi-ecb-guarantees\/","title":{"rendered":"RBI Moves FEMA Compounding of ODI, Loan and Guarantee Cases to Regional Offices"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Under an RBI circular dated 23 October 2026, applications to compound FEMA contraventions in overseas investment, and in borrowing, lending and guarantee transactions, now go to select Regional Offices of the Reserve Bank instead of its Central Office in Mumbai.<\/strong> The change is made by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rbi.org.in\/scripts\/NotificationUser.aspx?Id=13745&amp;Mode=0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">A.P. (DIR Series) Circular No. 28\/2026-27<\/a>, which the RBI describes as a measure for promoting customer service. Regional Offices were already compounding certain categories of foreign direct investment (FDI) contraventions; overseas investment (ODI) and borrowing, lending and guarantee cases now follow a regional route too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If your company, LLP or family has a FEMA lapse in one of these areas and you plan to compound it, here is where the application now goes and what to check first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What changed<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Until now:<\/strong> under <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rbi.org.in\/Scripts\/NotificationUser.aspx?Id=12736&amp;Mode=0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">A.P. (DIR Series) Circular No. 17\/2024-25<\/a> and the <a href=\"https:\/\/rbi.org.in\/Scripts\/BS_ViewMasDirections.aspx?id=12839&amp;Mode=0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Master Directions on Compounding of Contraventions under FEMA, 1999<\/a> dated 22 April 2025, compounding applications for overseas investment and for borrowing, lending and guarantee transactions were received at the Central Office of the Reserve Bank.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Overseas investment cases<\/strong> now go to one of seven Regional Offices, chosen by the prefix of the Unique Identification Number (UIN) allotted to the overseas joint venture, wholly owned subsidiary or foreign entity.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Borrowing, lending and guarantee cases<\/strong> now go to the Regional Office that has jurisdiction over the registered office of the Indian company or entity, or the applicant&#8217;s place of domicile.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The RBI has said the Master Directions will be updated to reflect the change.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Who it affects<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The new route covers contraventions under these rules and regulations, as amended from time to time:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Overseas investment:<\/strong> the FEMA (Transfer or Issue of Any Foreign Security) Regulations of 2000 and 2004, the FEMA (Overseas Investments) Rules, 2022 and the FEMA (Overseas Investments) Regulations, 2022, and any other FEMA provision so far as the contravention relates to an underlying overseas investment.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Borrowing and lending:<\/strong> the FEMA (Borrowing or Lending in Foreign Exchange) Regulations, 2000, the FEMA (Borrowing and Lending in Rupees) Regulations, 2000 and the FEMA (Borrowing and Lending) Regulations, 2018.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Guarantees:<\/strong> the FEMA (Guarantees) Regulations, 2000 and the FEMA (Guarantees) Regulations, 2026.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In practice this means Indian companies, LLPs and resident individuals with an overseas joint venture or subsidiary, and businesses that have raised or given loans or guarantees under FEMA, including external commercial borrowings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Which Regional Office handles overseas investment cases<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-fixed-layout\"><thead><tr><th>Regional Office<\/th><th>UIN prefix<\/th><\/tr><\/thead><tbody><tr><td>Ahmedabad<\/td><td>AH<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Bengaluru<\/td><td>BG<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Mumbai<\/td><td>BL, BY or PJ<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Kolkata<\/td><td>BN, CA, GA or GH<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>New Delhi<\/td><td>CG, JM, JR, KA, ND, PT or WR<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Hyderabad<\/td><td>HY<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Chennai<\/td><td>KO or MA<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Where no UIN was allotted, the application goes to the Cell for Effective implementation of FEMA (CEFA), Foreign Exchange Department, Central Office, Reserve Bank of India, 11th floor, Central Office Building, Shahid Bhagat Singh Road, Fort, Mumbai 400001.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One special case: if the contravention is a loan or guarantee given by the applicant to the foreign entity in which it has made the overseas investment, the application follows the overseas investment route above, based on the UIN, not the borrowing and guarantee route.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What it does not change<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The circular deals only with <strong>where<\/strong> applications are filed. It does not amend the underlying FEMA rules and regulations.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Applications that combine contraventions under different sets of rules or regulations, where the power to compound sits with different offices, may still be submitted to CEFA at the Central Office in Mumbai.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Compounding of the FDI contraventions that Regional Offices were already handling is not affected.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What to do now<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Find the UIN<\/strong> of your overseas joint venture or subsidiary from your AD bank&#8217;s records and match its prefix to the table above.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>For loan or guarantee lapses,<\/strong> identify the Regional Office for your registered office or place of domicile from Part C of Annexure I to the Master Directions.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>If an application is already pending<\/strong> at the Central Office, note that the circular does not say whether pending cases will be transferred. Check the status before filing anything again.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Sort out mixed cases first.<\/strong> If your lapses span ODI, borrowing and FDI, decide whether to file one combined application with CEFA or separate ones with the relevant offices.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Need help with FEMA compounding?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">TAXAJ helps with FEMA compounding applications and handles <a href=\"https:\/\/www.taxaj.com\/overseas-direct-investment\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">overseas direct investment<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.taxaj.com\/foreign-exchange-management-act-fema\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">FEMA compliance<\/a> work from offices in Delhi, Bengaluru, Goa and Bihar. For another recent RBI change, see our note on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.taxaj.com\/learn\/rbi-foreign-exchange-risk-reserve-ferr\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Foreign Exchange Risk Reserve on large import hedges<\/a>. For every other RBI change, see our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.taxaj.com\/fema-rbi-updates\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">FEMA and RBI updates<\/a> page.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-layout-flex wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/bookings.taxaj.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Talk to our FEMA team<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Source: RBI <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rbi.org.in\/scripts\/NotificationUser.aspx?Id=13745&amp;Mode=0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">A.P. (DIR Series) Circular No. 28\/2026-27<\/a> (RBI\/FED\/2026-27\/298) dated 23 October 2026, read with the <a href=\"https:\/\/rbi.org.in\/Scripts\/BS_ViewMasDirections.aspx?id=12839&amp;Mode=0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Master Directions on Compounding of Contraventions under FEMA, 1999<\/a> dated 22 April 2025. Last updated 26 October 2026. This is general information, not advice on any particular case, and it will be updated when the RBI revises the Master Directions.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Compounding applications for FEMA lapses in overseas investment, borrowing, lending and guarantees now go to RBI Regional Offices, not the Central Office. Here is which office handles your case.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":90902,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[14,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-90903","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fema-fdi","category-news-updates"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxaj.com/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90903","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxaj.com/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxaj.com/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxaj.com/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxaj.com/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90903"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxaj.com/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90903\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxaj.com/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/90902"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxaj.com/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxaj.com/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxaj.com/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}