关于单一主表 (SMF) – 外商直接投资 (FDI) 申报的一切信息

Reserve Bank of India (“RBI”) has taken all the steps to keep reporting simple and sorted. Therefore, subsuming all existing forms for reporting of Foreign Investment, the RBI has introduced a Single Master Form (“SMF”) to integrate the reporting structure of various types of Foreign Investment in India.

In this article, we have made a detailed discussion of the introduction of SMF and how its first module, i.e., Entity Master is to be filled up.

1. What is Single Master Form (SMF)?

• Prior to the introduction of the Single Master Form (“SFM”), information related to Foreign Investment in India was collected through different reports.
• However, with an objective to integrate the reporting structure of various types of Foreign Investment in India, the Reserve Bank of India (“RBI”) introduced a Single Master Form (“SMF”) vide RBI/2017-18/194 A.P (DIR Series) Circular No.30 dated June 07, 2018.
• Therefore, SMF will be used to report total foreign investment in an Indian entity and it subsumes all existing reports.

2. How to File a Single Master Form?

• In addition to RBI/2017-18/194 A.P (DIR Series) Circular No.30 dated 7th June, 2018, RBI issued a detailed user manual on Single Master Form (SMF) on 27th June, 2018.
• In order to Implement SMF, RBI introduced a new application namely FIRMS (Foreign Investment Reporting and Management System) and an entity can access Single Master Form on FIRMS app.
• FIRMS was made online in following 2 phases:
  • First Phase, i.e., the First Module wherein Entity Master is needs to be entered online.
  • Second Phase, i.e., the Second Module contains different reports for reporting of Foreign Investment.

2.1 First Module-Entity Master

• RBI first implemented First Module on FIRMS application wherein all applicable entities were required to create their Entity Master.
• First Module was provided to the public for data entry between June 28 (at 1:00 PM) and July 12, 2018. The date was extended till July 20, 2018.
• In the first Module entities were required to provide details of their existing Foreign Investment, including indirect Foreign Investment. Such information should be reported even if regulatory reporting to the Reserve Bank for the same has been made.
• All Indian entities were required to furnish specified data in First Module.
• All Indian entities that do not meet this requirement will be declared non-compliant with FEMA and will be unable to attract any foreign investment (including indirect foreign investment) in the future.
• Where the entities have not been able to register for the Entity master, they may do so from September 01, 2018. However, they may provide the reasons for not registering within the time period along with the authority letter.

2.2 Second Module-Reporting

• Second Module was made available with effect from 9th September, 2018 and it contains 9 reports.
• With the implementation of SMF, the reporting of FDI (Foreign Direct Investment), which is presently a two-step procedure viz., ARF and FC-GPR would be merged into a single revised FC-GPR.
• The SMF also introduces reporting of indirect foreign investment through form DI.
• Reporting of inflows in investment vehicles through Form InVi.
• Further, the reporting in FC-TRS, LLP-I, LLP-II, ESOP, DRR and CN would also be made in SMF only.

In this article, we have made a detailed discussion about First Module, i.e., Entity Master Module

3. User Manual on Entity Master  

3.1 Who is required to create an Entity Master on FIRMS Application?

• Every entity having Foreign Investment  is required to register for Entity master.
• Entity means:
  • A Company;
  • A Limited Liability Partnership
  • A startup which complies with the conditions laid down in Notification No. G.S.R 180(E) dated February 17, 2016 issued by Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India

3.2 Entity User Registration

• First of all, every entity who is required to fill entity master, shall appoint an authorised person to register an entity in the Entity Master of FIRMS application.
• Such person shall be the sole person responsible to add/update the foreign investment details of an Entity in the Entity Master and also would be responsible for the data entered.
• If an entity wants to change Entity user then it may contact RBI Helpdesk.
• The entity shall issue an Authority Letter to such person.
• Upon completion of Entity User Appointment, person shall start registration process at https://firms.rbi.org.in.

• Post clicking on “Registration Form for New Business User”, a new User Entity Registration Form shall pop up.
• Following formation is required to be entered in this Form:
  • Name
  • E-mail Address and Mobile Number
  • Entity Name
  • Entity Type- Company/LLP/Start-up
  • CIN/LLPIN
  • Regional Office Name-Regional Office of RBI under whose jurisdiction the registered office of the entity falls.
  • Address
  • Authority Letter

• Post clicking on Submit button, a message will pop-up “Record Saved Successfully”.
• Authority Letter submitted by the entity user will be verified by RBI and after RBI’s approval, the user will receive the password on their registered email ID from RBI email ID [email protected].
• Such user ID and password may be used to login at above mentioned URL to complete remaining registration process.

3.3 Entity Master

• Post login at portal, dashboard shall display and MENU can be seen on top left.
• Click on “Master Set-up” under MENU and then click on “Entity Master”.
• Then the person will be required to enter Entity master in following 4 tabs:
  • Entity Details Tab
  • Particulars Tab
  • Foreign Investment in Company / LLP Tab.
  • Foreign Investment Info tab

• 不同标签页下需要输入不同的信息。

3.3.1 实体详情标签页

在此标签页下，需要输入以下信息：

1. 名称
2. CIN/LLPIN
3. 注册日期
4. PAN（永久账号）
5. 印度储备银行（RBI）注册号——如有，需填写此前在申报配股时由RBI提供的号码。
6. 公司/有限责任合伙企业（LLP）是否正因违反1999年《外汇管理法》（FEMA）而受到执法局/中央调查局或其他调查机构的调查。

3.3.2 详细信息标签页

在“详细信息”标签页下，需要输入以下信息：

1. 注册办公地址
2. 手机号码
3. 电子邮箱
4. NIC代码——若适用多个代码，请填写接收外国投资的主要业务活动代码
5. 绿地项目或棕地项目——选择适用项。

3.3.3 公司/LLP外国投资标签页

需要输入以下与外国投资相关的信息：

1. 公司实收资本（完全稀释基础，即：完全稀释基础上的实收股份数 * 面值）
2. 截至2018年6月20日的外国证券投资，包括：

3.3.4 外国投资信息标签页

1. 实体需输入自注册之日起收到的所有外国投资详情。
2. 此页面需逐一填写每笔发行/转让的详情（而非按投资者填写），即在输入一笔发行详情后，用户应点击“添加”按钮。
3. 在“外国投资”标签页中需要输入以下信息：
   1. 发行/转让日期
   2. 描述
   3. 工具类型/资本出资额/或LLP的利润份额
   4. 工具数量/资本出资比例

3.3.5 其他注意事项：

• 在添加完所有发行/转让记录后，实体用户即可提交详情。
• 公司详情一旦提交，便可在“实体主数据”（Entity Master）页面查看。提交至“实体主数据”的操作不会收到电子邮件确认。
• 所有详情必须一次性提供。因此，在开始注册前，请准备好所有信息。
• 只有在填妥所有必填字段后，“提交”按钮才会启用。
• 提交详情后，实体用户仍可进行修改。

4. 实体主数据修订

与普遍看法相反，即使在提交后，如果发现信息有误或主数据发生变更，确实可以对您的“实体主数据”进行修改。

由于确保EMF中提供的信息真实准确是所有实体的基本责任，RBI已指示所有实体审查EMF中提供的详情，以确保其准确性并核实数据已填入相关字段。此外，如果无意中提交了错误信息，仍有进行修订的机会。

修订实体主数据应遵循以下步骤：

1. 如需更改实体的EMF详情，建议实体使用其注册邮箱向 [email protected] 和 [email protected] 发送电子邮件。

2. 请注意，邮件正文必须仅包含以下格式的基本信息：

• 实体的用户 ID；
• 实体的企业识别号 (CIN) / 有限责任合伙 (LLP) 编号；
• 实体的注册电子邮箱；
• 问题简述：此处需说明更改实体主表 (EMF) 的原因；
• 表格中需要更改的内容：请按以下格式说明-

• 公司董事总经理/董事/秘书或有限责任合伙的指定合伙人必须签署一份确认 EMF 变更的申请函，并将其作为附件发送至电子邮箱；
• 一份授权书，授权签字人执行 EMF 中的所有更正活动。

3. 此外，请注意，实体还需指定一名授权签字人，负责签署并执行与 EMF 变更相关的所有文件。

4. 当这些文件通过电子邮件提交给印度储备银行 (RBI) 后，RBI 将进行审核并更新 EMF 信息。完成后，系统会向授权人的电子邮箱发送一封确认更新的邮件。该邮件即为确认回执，也是流程的最后一步。

5. Conclusion

总而言之，实体主表是一份非常重要的文件，绝不可掉以轻心。若信息有误，实体有责任按照上述步骤进行更正。否则，实体可能需为此承担相应责任。