Thomas BabychanThe Reserve Bank of India on Wednesday released a list of forex trading entities who are not authorised by the central bank or regulatory bodies to deal in forex. Names and URLs of Forex entities who take part in forex transactions through electronic trading platforms illegally were also published in the ‘ALERT LIST’.
According to the list, various renowned forex trading platform such as Binomo, Forex.com, Forex4Money, Octa FX, IQ option Olymp Trade and Urban Forex does not have proper authorisations under the FEMA act 1999 to conduct foreign exchange transactions or use electronic trading platform for such transactions.
The central bank asked the public to not deal with or undertake any kind of financial or forex transactions with electronic trading platforms or persons who are unauthorised to deal with the trading. It also cautioned the public against depositing or remitting any amount of money on behalf of such ETPs or persons who claims to do forex trading.
Alert List
The Alert List contains names of entities which are neither authorised to deal in forex under the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (FEMA) nor authorised to operate electronic trading platform (ETP) for forex transactions under the Electronic Trading Platforms (Reserve Bank) Directions, 2018.
A few months ago in February 2022 Reserve Bank of India released a caution notice in the form of a press release requesting the public to be cautious about unauthorised forex trading platforms.
Following the COVID-19 pandemic and the resultant lockdown numerous people have found a craze in investing and stock markets and forex options in order to earn some quick bucks.
The alert list of entities that are not authorised to deal with forex and to operate electronic trading platforms for forex trade was released by Yogesh Dayal, chief general manager of Reserve Bank of India, in a press release date September 7th 2022.
According to the press release, the entities which are listed in the alert list do not have any authorisation to deal in forex trading under the foreign exchange management act 1999.
In order to alleviate any potential confusion regarding the list Reserve Bank of India clearly stated in the press release that an entity not appearing in the list should not be assumed to be authorised by the RBI. The current alert list has been prepared by the Reserve Bank of India taking into consideration the complaints and comments it has received till the time of the press release.
In the press release, Central Bank stated that the public can check the authorisation status of any entity or electronic trading platform by checking the authorised person list or authorised ETP list which is already available on the official website of the Reserve Bank of India.
The release also stated that Indian residents can undertake forex transactions in accordance with FEMA rules and regulations with persons and entities who are authorised to conduct such forex transactions. Electronic trading platforms and persons who are authorised to conduct forex transactions would be recognised by a stock exchange such as the National Stock Exchange of India Limited, Bombay Stock Exchange Limited, and Metropolitan Stock Exchange of India Limited.