Mumbai: In a reformist move, the Reserve Bank today allowed importers of rough diamond to send advance remittances to any company apart from the nine notified mining companies.
“With a view to liberalising the procedure further and facilitating the import of rough diamonds, it has now been decided that henceforth, RBI will not notify the names of overseas mining companies from whom an importer may import rough diamonds into India,” it said in a notification.
The RBI had in 2007 notified the names of five mining companies to whom an importer, other than a state-run entity, was allowed to make advance remittance without any limit and without bank guarantee or stand by letter of credit for import of rough diamonds.
The list had since been increased to nine and has now been relaxed completely, subject to certain conditions. The authorised category-I banks will have to exercise their commercial judgement while undertaking the transaction, it said, adding that procedures like KYC should also be followed.
The advance payments should be made strictly as per the terms of the sale contract and should be made directly to the account of the company concerned, it said. The AD-I banks should also follow-up submission of the Bill of Entry and documents evidencing import of rough diamonds into the country by the importer, in terms of the relevant statutes, it said.
The banks should submit a report of all such advance remittances made without a bank guarantee or standby letter of credit, where the amount of advance payment is USD 5 million, to RBI regional offices, it said.
