FEMA

The Foreign Exchange Management Act (1999) or in short FEMA has been introduced as a replacement for earlier Foreign Exchange Regulation Act (FERA). FEMA came into act on the 1st day of June, 2000. The main objective behind the Foreign Exchange Management Act (1999) is to consolidate and amend the law relating to foreign exchange with objective of facilitating external trade and payments and for promoting the orderly development and maintenance of foreign exchange market in India. FEMA is applicable to the all parts of India. The act is also applicable to all branches, offices and agencies outside India owned or controlled by a person who is resident of India. FEMA head-office also known as Enforcement Directorate is situated in New Delhi and is headed by a Director. The Directorate is further divided into 5 zonal offices at Delhi, Bombay, Calcutta, Madras and Jalandhar and each office is headed by a Deputy Directors. Each zone is further divided into 7 sub-zonal offices headed by the Assistant Directors and 5 field units headed by the Chief Enforcement Officers