Persons resident in India are permitted to maintain foreign currency accounts in India under the following three Schemes:
Exchange Earners Foreign Currency Accounts: All categories of resident foreign exchange earners can credit up to 100 per cent of their foreign exchange earnings, as specified in the
paragraph 1 (A) of the Schedule to Notification No. FEMA 10/2000-RB dated 3rd May, 2000 and as amended from time to time, to their EEFC Account with an Authorized Dealer in India. Funds held in EEFC account
can be utilized for all permissible current account transactions and also for approved capital account transactions as specified by the extant Rules/Regulations/ Notifications/ Directives issued by the
Government/RBI from time to time. The account is maintained in the form of a non-interest bearing current account.
Resident Foreign Currency Accounts A person resident in India may open, hold and maintain with an Authorized Dealer in India a Resident Foreign Currency (RFC) Account to keep their
foreign currency assets which were held outside India at the time of return can be credited to such accounts. The foreign exchange received as (i) pension of any other superannuation or other monetary
benefits from the employer outside India; (ii) received or acquired as gift or inheritance from a person referred to sub-section (4) of section 6 of FEMA, 1999 or (iii) referred to in clause (c) of section 9
of the Act or acquired as gift or inheritance there from or (iv) received as the proceeds of life insurance policy claims/maturity/ surrender values settled in foreign currency from an insurance company in
India permitted to undertake life insurance business by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority; may also be credited to this account. RFC account can be maintained in the form of current or
savings or term deposit accounts. The funds in RFC account are free from all restrictions regarding utilization of foreign currency balances including any restriction on investment outside India.
Resident Foreign Currency (Domestic) Account: A resident Individual may open, hold and maintain with an Authorized Dealer in India, a Resident Foreign Currency (Domestic) Account, out of
foreign exchange acquired in the form of currency notes, Bank notes and travelers cheques, from any of the sources like, payment for services rendered abroad, as honorarium, gift, services rendered or in
settlement of any lawful obligation from any person not resident in India. The account may also be credited with/opened out of foreign exchange earned abroad like proceeds of export of goods and/or services,
royalty, honorarium, etc., and/or gifts received from close relatives (as defined in the Companies Act) and repatriated to India through normal banking channels. The account shall be maintained in the form of
Current Account and shall not bear any interest. There is no ceiling on the balances in the account. The account may be debited for payments made towards permissible current and capital account transactions.