RBI has notified the Foreign Exchange Management (Authorised Persons) Regulations, 2026. The Regulation becomes effective from 06.05.2026
A person seeking authorisation as an authorised person may apply to the Reserve Bank through the PRAVAAH portal (https://pravaah.rbi.org.in) to the regional office concerned of the Reserve Bank under whose jurisdiction the registered office of the applicant is established
The Reserve Bank shall consider application for fresh authorisation under three categories, namely, AD Category-I, AD Category-II and AD Category-III.
Eligibility conditions – (1) An applicant shall be a company incorporated under the Companies Act 2013.
(2) The Memorandum of Association (MoA) of the applicant should include the foreign exchange related activity for which the authorisation is being sought.
(3) An applicant shall fulfil the following criteria at the time of application:
| Category of AP | Eligible entities |
| AD Category-I | A bank licensed by the Reserve Bank |
| AD Category-II | i. A bank licensed by or a Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC) registered with the Reserve Bank. ii. A Full-Fledged Money Changer or a Forex Correspondent functioning for at least two years with an average annual forex turnover of ₹50 crore during the previous two financial years |
| AD Category-III | An entity: i. required to deal in foreign exchange incidental to the activities undertaken by it; or ii. that intends to offer innovative products and services that may involve dealing in foreign exchange. |
(4) An applicant, at the time of commencement of business as an authorised person shall have a minimum positive net worth (based upon its latest audited balance sheet) of Rs. 10 crores or 20 crores for Category I and II respectively and shall submit a certificate to this effect from its Statutory Auditors.
(5) The applicant, its promoters, directors and Key Managerial Personnel (KMPs) shall be ‘fit and proper’ on the following aspects:
(a) qualification and experience in the financial services industry.
(b) integrity, reputation and character.
(c) absence of convictions or restraint orders from a court of law, disqualifications under the Companies Act, 2013 or other applicable corporate law, sanctions imposed by a regulatory body, or expulsion from a professional body:
Provided that at least 50% of the directors and KMPs have qualification and experience in the financial services industry.
(6) In case an applicant or any of its promoters, directors or KMPs or its parent entity is under investigation by Directorate of Enforcement (DoE), the applicant shall furnish, along with the application, a No Objection Certificate (NOC) obtained from DoE, which is dated not earlier than thirty days from the date of such application: Provided that where no reply has been received from the DoE within 60 days of receipt of request, the application will be processed without NOC from the DoE based on the declaration to this effect by the applicant. Such request to DoE should have been made not earlier than ninety days from the date of application to the Reserve Bank. (7)
An entity conducting activities as an authorised person as on the date of coming into force of these regulations may apply for renewal of its existing authorisation subject to fulfilment of net worth criteria.
An authorised person shall be permitted to facilitate activities listed below, unless otherwise specifically permitted or restricted by the Reserve Bank:
| Category | Permitted Activities |
| AD Category-I | Any current account and capital account transaction permissible under the Act |
| AD Category-II | i. Any non-trade current account transaction permissible under the Act, other than gift and donation. ii. Foreign trade transactions up to ₹25 lakh per transaction. |
| AD Category-III | As mentioned in the authorisation issued by the Reserve Bank |
| Full Fledged Money Changer (FFMC) | i. Purchase of foreign currency notes and travellers’ cheques; ii. Sale of foreign currency notes and travellers’ cheques for foreign travel purposes; and iii. Functioning as an agent under the MTSS in accordance with the guidelines on Money Transfer Service Scheme (MTSS) |
Further, an authorised person, other than a bank or an NBFC, shall achieve minimum annual forex turnover of Rs. 50 crores and Rs 10 crores respectively for Category-II and FFMC within two years from the date of coming into force of these regulations or from the commencement of forex business, whichever is later, and shall maintain the minimum annual forex turnover thereafter on an ongoing basis.
An Authorised Dealer Category-I or an Authorised Dealer Category-II may appoint an entity or entities as agent, known as Forex Correspondent (FxC), for conducting prmitted money changing business under a ‘principal-agent’ model. An FxC shall be permitted to deal in foreign exchange with any of its customer or with other entities as per the Forex Correspondent Scheme laid out in the Regulations.
Download Foreign Exchange Management (Authorised Persons) Regulations 2026 >>
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