Going forward, as stability in forex markets becomes well established, we shall be unwinding them partially or fully. The case for portfolio investment by individuals rests on affording an opportunity to Indian residents to diversify their portfolio. We have been progressively liberalizing the facility till the last bout of Rupee volatility when we had to take steps to moderate it.
It may be recalled that it was raised substantially to $ 200,000 per annum when we had massive inflows. Such limit under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS), used widely for current account transactions and also some capital account transactions, including acquisition of property abroad, was brought down when there were apprehensions of large scale transfers in the face of currency volatility.