Bonanza For Indians Visiting Abroad: RBI Raises Foreign Spending Limit

In a move which would boost spending by Indians when they are on a foreign visit, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has increased the limit on foreign spending to Rs 1.5 crore in a year. The earlier limit was Rs 75 lakh. This would enable Indians to invest more in real estate, stocks, debt instruments, etc., abroad without prior permission from the RBI.

Notably, the RBI had reduced this limit to Rs 45 lakh in 2013 owing to extensive devaluation of the Indian currency. In June last year, the limit was again raised to Rs 75 lakh.

"On a review of the external sector outlook and as a further exercise in macro prudential management, it has been decided to enhance the limit under the liberalised remittance scheme to $250,000 (Rs 1.5 crore) per person per year," the RBI said in its sixth bi-monthly review of monetary policy.

RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan said that the decrease in inflation played a crucial role in keeping the rupee stable. Moreover, the macro-economic environment of the country has also shown improvement. He also added that the current account deficit is expected to be 1.3% this year.