Faced with a technical snag, the Reserve Bank of India is likely to extend the deadline for filing of a single master form—that seeks to consolidate all foreign investment received by Indian firms.

Many firms have been unable to file the master form, the deadline for which is 12 July, with the website designed for the reporting not functioning properly for the last couple of days.

RBI, in its monetary policy announcement in April, had said that it will introduce a single master form to integrate all existing reporting structures of various types of foreign investment into India. It announced the introduction of an online application known as FIRMS (Foreign Investment Reporting and Management System).

Entities were required to provide data with respect to all foreign investments received including indirect foreign investment, irrespective of the fact whether the investment has been reported prior to the central bank. The window for the single master form, which would replace multiple forms, was to be open from 28 June to 12 July. It was aimed at getting timely and consolidated information about all foreign investments into Indian firms.

RBI had warned that Indian entities not complying with these instructions will not be able to receive foreign investment (including indirect foreign investment) and will be treated as non-compliant with Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (FEMA).

A person familiar with the development said that the RBI was working to rectify the problem and is considering extending the deadline to allow firms to file the single master form. An email sent to RBI remained unanswered.

A user who has been struggling to fill the form for the last few days said, “Status is that the web servers of RBI are crashing under the load both yesterday and today. It takes up to 30 minutes before the site starts responding again.” He did not wish to be identified. #casansaar (Source - LiveMint)