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Indian retail investors have grown multitudinously in size and numbers, and so has been their foreign investments.
It is no hidden fact that previously there were some big institutional players and limited retail participation. But now, there is a paradigm shift.
The desire of Indians to invest has not been restricted to Indian markets. Now, they want to explore foreign investments and trading as well. Foreign investments by Indians in stocks and other assets touched a record high in December 2022.
Well, previously, investing in foreign stocks and securities was not an easy job.
Many times Indian investors wished to purchase stocks of NASDAQ-listed companies but they could not!
Not only it involved complicated documentation and processes but also had high transactional costs. However, with Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS), outward remittances have become way simpler than before.
LRS has opened doors for outward remittances to invest in publicly-listed shares, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and units of mutual funds and other securities.
In the second cohort of the RBI’s regulatory sandbox for Cross-Border Payments, Cashfree Payments extended its platform to facilitate cross-border payments.
It came up with a foreign remittance solution that can allow the purchase of assets listed on foreign exchanges by domestic investors via local payment methods.
Let’s understand more about foreign remittances under LRS for investments and how investment and trading companies can benefit through it.
Cross Border Payments Via LRS
The RBI came up with LRS, that is, Liberalised Remittance Scheme in 2004. This allowed Indian residents to send money to foreign nations for various purposes.
Citizens can send foreign remittances for education, medical costs, travel expenses, and even for investments abroad. Therefore, LRS gave wings to both current and capital transactions across borders.
Currently, the limit for foreign remittances under LRS is USD 250,000 in a single financial year.
The Government of India also imposes taxes on LRS transactions depending upon their type. For example, remittances for education and medical purposes are tax-exempt up to ₹ 7 Lakh. It has a 5% tax implication after this limit. Whereas, remittances for travel, investments or other use cases are charged at 20% without any threshold limit. This is effective from July 1, 2023.
Read More: TCS on LRS – Budget 2023 Update
The RBI mandates that remittances under LRS can only be through authorized dealers – I (AD- 1). However, it is encouraging fintechs to partner with these ADs and enhance cross-border payments more smoothly.
As this trend of foreign investments is picking up, more and more platforms are offering cross-border payments.
However, platforms enabling foreign investments still face many challenges in remitting money for investing in foreign stocks, securities and assets.
These investment platforms receive bulk payments from multiple customers. Likewise, they need to remit amounts in bulk for investing in different assets and allocating the same to their customers.
This is where investment and trading agencies look out for a payment gateway that offers seamless cross-border payment solutions. So, Cashfree Payments brings its RBI-approved LRS solution aka outward remittance solution.
Challenges in Foreign Remittances for Investments
Even though fintechs have entered the cross-border payment zone, they have to do it via the ADs or AD2.
Now, this involves a lot of paperwork!
For any foreign remittance under LRS, the investment platform has to obtain all KYC proofs and submit them to the ADs. Sometimes, this involves an investor’s physical visits to the bank for KYC verification.
For foreign investments and other such LRS capital transactions, the remitters must hold accounts with the AD bank, preferably for a year. If they are new account holders, then they must wait a few hours after KYC verification before initiating the first transaction.
Needless to say, investment and trading agencies are dependent on the working hours of the bank. Moreover, the settlement time of remitted money is also T+1* or T+2* days, even if the customer has an existing account. In rare cases, it is T+0*. But, if s/he is a new account holder, it may take longer than T+1* day for remittances to reflect in a foreign account.
(*Settlement cycle is subject to bank approval and can vary based on transaction type, business category/model, risk parameters and other factors )
This becomes a time-taking process!
The customer picks up the foreign broker’s bank account details from the Indian broking platform. S/he then adds that account as a beneficiary in net banking. Once the beneficiary is successfully added, the customer wires the fund to the offshore broker account directly which gets mapped to the Indian broking account. Once the funds are available the customer can start trading.
It is only after this process that Indian investors are allocated units of stocks, securities, ETFs, etc. against their foreign investments.
This is where Cashfree Payments came up with its outward remittance solution! We are here to counter these problems and revolutionise global investing for Indians.
Why Cashfree Payments’s LRS Solution for Foreign Investments?
Investment brokers and trading agencies can integrate with us to use our LRS solution. With Cashfree Payments, they can facilitate seamless and RBI-compliant foreign investments for their customers.
Our flow for outward remittances makes cross-border payments hassle-free. Thus, it can help you to attain more customers who like to invest in foreign assets.
How do we do it?
Well, Indian investors can initiate payments for foreign investments on your platform. Integrating with our outward remittance solution gives your customers the choice to invest through their preferred modes of payment. They can initiate payments via UPI, net banking or other methods like NEFT, RTGS and IMPS.
We receive these funds in the escrow accounts sending an instant notification. We start processing the remittance to the destination account through AD banks. The funds are received by the overseas stock broker in foreign currency.
Now, why are we a better choice for LRS’s foreign investments? Here’s how –
- Cashfree Payments’s LRS solution is completely digital and paperless. Thus, your customers need not pay physical visits to the bank and go through all the documentation and paperwork for making foreign investments
- No dependency on the working hours of the banks because we offer 24×7 payment collection
- Remittance settlement is quicker! We aim to settle remittances on the same day to the beneficiary account if sent before 1 PM IST. Your customers/remitters need not be AD bank account holders but can remit via any bank
- Before processing the payment, we give the exact calculation of taxes and foreign exchange. We use the Smart FX calculator for foreign exchange calculation. Investors know the tax they bear on their outward remittances before sending it
- As mentioned above, unlike the ADs, we let your investors invest through popular Indian payment methods like UPI and net banking ALSO
- In addition to the above, we provide the real-time status of processing and settlements of the outward remittances
What do You Need to Know?
What you need to know is that the outward remittance solution by Cashfree Payments has customized solutions for multiple businesses.
In the blog, we have talked majorly about how Investments and Trading Businesses. We have detailed how they can use our platform to manage international payments. With our seamless flow of money across borders, they can offer convenient transactions and quick settlements.
Therefore, they can obtain more customers wanting to make foreign investments.
However, education consultancies, immigration service businesses and also travel as well as destination management companies can benefit from us.
To know more details, reach out to our experts!
