Outward remittances under the Reserve Bank of India's Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS) saw a 7.85 per cent year-on-year contraction in April 2026, primarily driven by reduced international travel spending due to global uncertainty stemming from the US-Iran conflict.
Overseas travel spending by Indians, including holiday trips, decreased by $212.43 million to $1.09 billion in March compared to February, according to the Reserve Bank of India's latest data.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday proposed to reduce the tax collection at source (TCS) rate to 2 per cent for education and medical purposes under Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS) as well as on sale of overseas tour program package.
The FM proposed a rule-based automated process for small taxpayers in FY27 Budget.
Investors should do thorough due diligence when selecting a platform.
Why would a country that requires close to $90 billion in net foreign capital annually to create jobs, build productive capacity, and sustain rapid growth permit $30 billion of capital to flow abroad, thereby contributing to pressure on the rupee? asks Debashis Basu.
Compared with a year ago, the effective cost of studying abroad for Indian students has increased by roughly 10%-12% due to currency depreciation and rising living costs.
With domestic markets turning choppy, investors are increasingly scouting for opportunities overseas to diversify portfolios and hedge against a weakening rupee.
As the rupee weakens, wealthy families are accelerating investments in global assets.
Outward remittances under the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) liberalised remittance scheme (LRS) rose in May 2023 to $2.88 billion as compared to $2.33 billion in April, mainly due to an uptick in travel spend. People in India spent close to $1.5 billion on international travel in May, against $1.10 billion in April.
Outward remittances in February under the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI's) liberalised remittance scheme (LRS) fell 23 per cent over January, latest data released by the central bank, in its monthly bulletin, revealed. In February, Indians remitted $2.1 billion under the RBI's liberalised scheme. On a year-on-year (YoY) basis - aided by international travel - LRS jumped 15.24 per cent. Further, in April 2022-February 2023, outward remittances under LRS stood at $24.18 billion, an all-time high.
According to the latest data released by the Reserve Bank of India, remittances for overseas studies accounted for 61.59 per cent of the total outgo under the liberalised remittance scheme that enables individuals to send up to $200,000 (around Rs 98 lakh) annually for specified activities without seeking prior approval.
'The increase in the limit for TDS on interest to Rs 1 lakh will ensure greater cash flow in the hands of senior citizens.'
Spending on international travel tripled in April 2022 as Covid-related curbs were eased in various countries in FY22.
'Every year we import approximately $70 billion worth of gold -- closer to $72 billion in 2025-2026, an all-time record.' 'There is no parallel for this anywhere in the world. And this love for gold will not disappear overnight.'
The finance ministry on Friday amended the foreign exchange management rules to exclude international credit card spends from the purview of liberalised remittance scheme (LRS). The amendment to the Foreign Exchange Management (Current Account Transactions) Rules, 2000, will be effective retrospectively from May 16, the ministry said in a notification. "...the use of International Credit Card for making payment by a person towards meeting expenses while such person is on a visit outside India" will not be covered under LRS, the notification said while inserting Rule 7 in the FEM (CAT) Rules.
This single amendment, unfortunately, overshadows much of the Budget's promise, explains Harsh Roongta.
Indians remitted close to $2 billion in November under the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI's) liberalised remittance scheme (LRS), latest data released by the central bank showed. Outward remittances under the scheme jumped 29 per cent to $1.99 billion compared to $1.54 billion in the year-ago month. Sequentially, outward remittances under the scheme were up about 3.5 per cent.
Outward remittances under the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI's) liberalised remittance scheme (LRS) surged by 50.64 per cent to $9.1 billion in the April-June quarter (first quarter, or Q1) of 2023-24 (FY24), driven by healthy growth across segments due to a revision in the timeline of tax collected at source under the LRS scheme and normalisation in international travel. Major drivers include equity and debt investments, deposits, and the international travel segment, among others. According to the latest RBI data, the amount remitted under LRS stood at $9.1 billion in Q1FY24, compared with $6.05 billion in the same quarter last year.
The Union finance ministry on Thursday issued a clarification on the changes in FEMA rules which brings overseas international credit card spending under the RBI's liberalised remittance scheme (LRS). Here's how it affects you.
ITRs with zero tax liability have increased to 55.7 million in FY25.
Credit card payments for foreign travel will be brought under the purview of the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS) of the Reserve Bank, to ensure that such expenses do not escape TCS (Tax Collection at Source). While moving the Finance Bill 2023 for consideration and passage in the Lok Sabha on Friday, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the Reserve Bank has been asked to look into ways to bring credit card payments on foreign tours under the LRS. "It has been represented that payments for foreign tours through a credit card are not being captured under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS) and such payments escape tax collection at source (TCS)," she said.
Budget 2026 sticks to fiscal discipline, shuns populist measures despite five key state elections coming up, but ends up rattling stock markets with a higher transaction tax on derivatives trading.
Outward remittances under the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI's) liberalised remittance scheme (LRS) made a strong comeback in the first quarter of FY23 as Indians increased spending on international travel, maintenance of close relatives, and gifts. The latest data for Q1FY23 released by the RBI shows that remittance by Indians under the scheme jumped 64.75 per cent to over $6.04 billion from $3.67 billion in Q1FY22. The amount remitted in Q1FY23 is even higher than that in Q4FY22, where outward remittance under LRS was to the tune of $5.8 billion. In April, about $2.02 billion was remitted, followed by $2.03 billion in May, and $1.98 billion in June, data released by RBI in the August bulletin shows.
Here's what Indian investors diversifying into equities, ETFs, and real estate abroad to manage risk, returns, and currency exposure must watch out for.
Money sent abroad rises sharply in July; maintenance of close relatives, education expenses top the chart
The Indian government has expressed its disagreement with the IMF staff's 'baseline' assumption that the 50 per cent US tariffs on its goods exports 'would remain in place indefinitely', based on which the staff pegged the country's GDP growth at 6.6 per cent this year, and pared its 2026-27 projection by 20 basis points to 6.2 per cent.
As the new Tax Collection at Source (TCS) on foreign remittances is set to become applicable from October 1, travel agents' body TAAI has made a last-minute plea to the government, urging them to abolish the decision or defer its implementation until the next fiscal year to allow discussions on overseas tour packages. The government has raised the TCS on foreign remittances under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS) from 5 per cent to 20 per cent. This will be applicable to international travel, sending money abroad and other remittances.
ED and Directorate of Revenue Intelligence have detected a significant increase in the outflow of Indian money, specifically into four countries --Thailand, Dubai, Singapore and Hong Kong.
Of the 700-odd Indians having foreign bank accounts, not all can be deemed to be operating these illegally.
The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) board has approved liberalised part withdrawals for subscribers, allowing up to 100 per cent EPF withdrawal, and rolled out the 'Vishwas Scheme' to reduce litigation through rationalised penal damages.
They don't just want better returns -- they're looking for global opportunities, more variety and smarter ways to grow their money, says Soubho Moulik, CEO, Appreciate.
The Enforcement Directorate on Friday alleged that Hero MotoCorp executive chairperson Pawan Kant Munjal used foreign currency issued in the name of others for his personal expenditure abroad to "override" RBI rules and attached his assets worth Rs 24.95 crore as part of a money laundering investigation. Three immovable properties (in the form of lands) of Munjal located in Delhi have been provisionally attached under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the central agency said in a statement.
The foreign degree no longer sells itself, families are doing the math, and for many, the numbers just don't add up.
The government on Friday announced that no tax will be charged on overseas spending of up to Rs 7 lakh in a year using debit or credit as it looked to douse backlash from its earlier decision of levying TCS on all spending. The government had earlier this week brought overseas credit card spending under Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS). This meant that any spending using credit cards overseas would attract a 20 per cent tax from July 1.
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While the measures are aimed at moderating outflows, RBI added that genuine requirement beyond these limits will continue to be considered under the approval route.
Meridian Tech Pte has its development centre in Hyderabad.
The Reserve Bank of India's (RBI's) decision on Wednesday to relax restrictions on banks operating in the International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) related to the repatriation of idle funds in foreign currency accounts (FCA) could give a fillip to trading in foreign stocks at the GIFT City.
