What is Liberalised Remittance Scheme and what’s it used for?

The Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS) of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) allows resident individuals to remit a certain amount of money during a financial year to another country for investment and expenditure.

According to the prevailing regulations, resident individuals may remit up to $250,000 per financial year. This money can be used to pay expenses related to travelling (private or for business), medical treatment, studying, gifts and donations, maintenance of close relatives and so on.

Apart from this, the remitted amount can also be invested in shares, debt instruments, and be used to buy immovable properties in overseas market. Individuals can also open, maintain and hold foreign currency accounts with banks outside India for carrying out transactions permitted under the scheme.

However, LRS restricts buying and selling of foreign exchange abroad, or purchase of lottery tickets or sweep stakes, proscribed magazines and so on, or any items that are restricted under Schedule II of Foreign Exchange Management (Current Account Transactions) Rules, 2000.

You also can’t make remittances directly or indirectly to countries identified by the Financial Action Task Force as “non co-operative countries and territories”.