The Reserve Bank of India has released its notification on Foreign Exchange Management (Authorised Persons) Regulations, 2026. The central bank has notified in details the norms for entities dealing in foreign exchange. It has also laid down stricter eligibility criteria for forex dealers with regards to authorization, eligibility conditions and renewal of authorisation of existing authorised persons.
Reserve bank said that no person shall act as an authorised person without obtaining an authorisation from the central bank.
An authorised person as on the date of coming into force of these regulations may continue to act as such until the expiry of its existing authorisation, in accordance with the conditions of the authorisation issued, as well as these regulations and the directions issued by the Reserve Bank from time to time, it added.
Those seeking to be authorised person will have to 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.
RBI said that it will consider application for fresh authorisation under three categories — a. AD Category-I, b. AD Category-II and c. AD Category-III.
Application for fresh authorisation as an FFMC shall not be considered by the Reserve Bank, except those under process as on the date of coming into force of these regulations. Wherever additional information and/or documents have been sought by the Reserve Bank for processing such applications, the same shall be provided within thirty days from the date of coming into force of these regulations; else the applications shall be deemed to have been rejected, said RBI.
Eligibility conditions
— An applicant shall be a company incorporated under the Companies Act 2013.
— The Memorandum of Association (MoA) of the applicant should include the foreign exchange related activity for which the authorisation is being sought.
– An applicant shall fulfil the following criteria at the time of application:
A. AD Category-I: A bank licensed by the Reserve Bank
B. 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.
C. 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.
— An applicant, at the time of commencement of business as an authorised person shall have a minimum positive net worth mentioned below:
AD Category-II: Rs 10 crores
AD Category-III: Rs 2 crores
Renewal of authorisation of existing authorised persons
(1) 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 under these regulations, if its Net worth is a minimum of –
(a) Rs 25 lakh, in case of a single branch FFMC;
(b) Rs 50 lakh, in case of a multiple branch FFMC;
(c) Rs 10 crore, in case of an AD Category-II;
(d) Rs 2 crore, in case of an AD Category-III:
(2) An application for renewal of existing authorisation shall be made at least two months before expiry of the existing authorisation. In such case, the existing authorisation shall continue till renewal is granted under these regulations or the application is rejected, as the case may be.
