If you tried visiting websites of several mutual funds in recent years, pop-ups would appear asking you if you were an investor based in US, Canada or India. If you opted for non-India option, you would be shown a different set of terms and conditions, which were part of compliance that AMC had to follow under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), resulting in several NRIs not being able to invest in Indian mutual funds.
This was because when FATCA came into place, AMCs stopped taking investments from US and Canada due to complexity associated with the compliance. Under FATCA, it is compulsory to share transaction details involving US citizens, including NRIs. India signed the Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) with the USA on July 9, 2015, to boost International Tax Compliance and implementing FATCA.
The documentation is standard for all investors. The KYC, FATCA details, additional KYC are mandatory for all. Presently, Birla Sun Life MF, SBI MF, UTI MF, ICICI Prudential MF, DHFL Pramerica MF, L&T MF, PPFAS MF and Sundaram MF are the AMCs that are accepting investments from NRI investors.
