Downstream Investment reporting and timelines

Downstream Investment

As per Regulation 14 of FEMA 20(R)

(1) For the purpose of this regulation:

(a) ‘Ownership of an Indian company’ shall mean beneficial holding of more than 50 percent of the capital instruments of such company. ‘Ownership of an LLP’ shall mean contribution of more than 50 percent in its capital and having majority profit share.

(b) ‘Company owned by resident Indian citizens’ shall mean an Indian company where ownership is vested in resident Indian citizens and/ or Indian companies, which are ultimately owned and controlled by resident Indian citizens. An ‘LLP owned by resident Indian citizens’ shall mean an LLP where ownership is vested in resident Indian citizens and/ or Indian entities, which are ultimately owned and controlled by resident Indian citizens.

(c) ‘Company owned by persons resident outside India’ shall mean an Indian company that is owned by persons resident outside India. An ‘LLP owned by persons resident outside India’ shall mean an LLP that is owned by persons resident outside India.

(d) ‘Control’ shall mean the right to appoint majority of the directors or to control the management or policy decisions including by virtue of their shareholding or management rights or shareholders agreement or voting agreement. For the purpose of LLP, ‘Control’ shall mean the right to appoint majority of the designated partners, where such designated partners, with specific exclusion to others, have control over all the policies of an LLP.

(e) ‘Company controlled by resident Indian citizens’ means an Indian company, the control of which is vested in resident Indian citizens and/ or Indian companies which are ultimately owned and controlled by resident Indian citizens. An ‘LLP controlled by resident Indian citizens’ shall mean an LLP, the control of which is vested in resident Indian citizens and/ or Indian entities, which are ultimately owned and controlled by resident Indian citizens.

(f) ‘Company controlled by persons resident outside India’ shall mean an Indian company that is controlled by persons resident outside India. An ‘LLP controlled by persons resident outside India’ shall mean an LLP that is controlled by persons resident outside India.

(g) ‘Downstream Investment’ shall mean investment made by an Indian entity or an Investment Vehicle in the capital instruments or the capital, as the case may be, of another Indian entity:

(h) ‘Holding Company’ shall have the same meaning as assigned to it under Companies Act, 2013;

(i) ‘Indirect Foreign Investment’ means downstream investment received by an Indian entity from:

1. another Indian entity (IE) which has received foreign investment and (i) the IE is not owned and not controlled by resident Indian citizens or (ii) is owned or controlled by persons resident outside India; or
2. an investment vehicle whose sponsor or manager or investment manager (i) is not owned and not controlled by resident Indian citizens or (ii) is owned or controlled by persons resident outside India

Provided no person resident in India other than an Indian entity can receive Indirect Foreign Investment.

(j) ‘Total Foreign Investment’ means the total of foreign investment and indirect foreign investment and the same will be reckoned on a fully diluted basis;

(k) ‘Strategic downstream investment’ means investment by banking companies incorporated in India in their subsidiaries, joint ventures and associates.

(2) Indian entity which has received indirect foreign investment shall comply with the entry route, sectoral caps, pricing guidelines and other attendant conditions as applicable for foreign investment.

Explanation: Downstream investment by an LLP not owned and not controlled by resident Indian citizens or owned or controlled by persons resident outside India is allowed in an Indian company operating in sectors where foreign investment up to 100 percent is permitted under automatic route and there are no FDI linked performance conditions.

(3) With effect from 31st day of July, 2012, downstream investment/s made under Corporate Debt Restructuring (CDR), or other loan restructuring mechanism, or in trading book, or for acquisition of shares due to defaults in loans, by a banking company, as defined in clause (c) of section 5 of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, incorporated in India, which is not owned and not controlled by resident Indian citizens or owned or controlled by persons resident outside India, shall not count towards indirect foreign investment. However, their strategic downstream investment shall be counted towards indirect foreign investment for the company in which such investment is being made.

(4) Guidelines for calculating total foreign investment in Indian companies:

1. Any equity holding by a person resident outside India resulting from conversion of any debt instrument under any arrangement shall be reckoned for total foreign investment;
2. FCCBs and DRs having underlying of instruments in the nature of debt, shall not be reckoned for total foreign investment;
3. The methodology for calculating total foreign investment would apply at every stage of investment in Indian companies and thus in each and every Indian company;
4. For the purpose of downstream investment, the portfolio investment held as on March 31 of the previous financial year in the Indian company making the downstream investment shall be considered for computing its total foreign investment;
5. The indirect foreign investment received by a wholly owned subsidiary of an Indian company will be limited to the total foreign investment received by the company making the downstream investment;

(5) Downstream investment made into Indian companies will be subject to the following conditions:

(a) The downstream investment should have the approval of the Board of Directors as also a Shareholders' Agreement, if any;

(b) For the purpose of downstream investment, the Indian entity making the downstream investment shall bring in requisite funds from abroad and not use funds borrowed in the domestic markets. Downstream investments can be made through internal accruals. For this purpose, internal accruals will mean profits transferred to reserve account after payment of taxes.

Further raising of debt and its utilisation shall be in compliance with the Act, rules or regulations made thereunder.

(c) Capital instrument of an Indian company held by another Indian company which has received foreign investment and is not owned and not controlled by resident Indian citizens or is owned or controlled by persons resident outside India may be transferred to:

1. A person resident outside India, subject to reporting requirements in Form FCTRS;
2. A person resident in India subject to adherence to pricing guidelines.
3. An Indian company which has received foreign investment and is not owned and not controlled by resident Indian citizens or owned or controlled by persons resident outside India.

(d) The first level Indian company making downstream investment shall be responsible for ensuring compliance with the provisions of these regulations for the downstream investment made by it at second level and so on and so forth. Such first level company shall obtain a certificate to this effect from its statutory auditor on an annual basis. Such compliance of these regulations shall be mentioned in the Director's report in the Annual Report of the Indian company. In case statutory auditor has given a qualified report, the same shall be immediately brought to the notice of the Regional Office of the Reserve Bank in whose jurisdiction the Registered Office of the company is located and shall also obtain acknowledgement from the RO.

(e) The provisions at (c) and (d) above shall be construed accordingly for an LLP.

Note: Downstream investment made in accordance with the guidelines in existence prior to February 13, 2009 would not require any modification to conform to these regulations. All other investments, after the said date, would come under the ambit of these regulations. Downstream investments made between February 13, 2009 and June 21, 2013 which is not in conformity with these regulations should have been intimated to the Reserve Bank by October 3, 2013 for treating such cases as compliant with these regulations.

Timeline for reporting DI

The form DI for Downstream Investment has to be reported to Secretariat for Industrial Assistance, DIPP within 30 days of such investment or infusion of funds as Regulation FEMA 20(R)