RBI as a facilitation measure has allowed booking of Forward Contracts without production of underlying documents, up to a limit of USD 250,000 based on self-declaration.

Further, it has been decided to allow all resident individuals, firms and companies, who have actual or anticipated foreign exchange exposures, to book foreign exchange forward and FCY-INR options contracts up to USD 1,000,000 (USD one million) without any requirement of documentation on the basis of a simple declaration. While the contracts booked under this facility would normally be on a deliverable basis, cancellation and rebooking of contracts are permitted. Based on the track record of the entity, the concerned AD Cat-I bank May; however, call for underlying documents, if considered necessary, at the time of rebooking of cancelled contracts.

The existing facilities for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) shall remain unchanged and booking/ cancellation/ rebooking/ roll over forward contracts without production of underlying documents would be permitted with banks with whom the SMEs have credit facilities and the total forward contracts booked should be in alignment with the credit facilities availed by them for their foreign exchange requirements or their working capital requirements or capital expenditure. SMEs availing this facility should furnish a declaration to the bank regarding the amounts of forward contracts already booked, if any, with other banks under this facility. SMEs are also permitted to use foreign currency rupee options for hedging their exposures after production of underlying documents or under past performance route.