Liberalized Remittance Scheme

In India, any money you send overseas is subject to controls, as the government is wary of excessive outflows of foreign exchange draining its reserves and destabilizing the rupee. But there has been an effort to gradually liberalize these controls.

The window that was opened up in 2004 for individuals to remit money across the border, without seeking specific approvals, was called the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS).

Under LRS, all resident individuals can freely remit $250,000 overseas every financial year for a permissible set of current or capital account transactions. Remittances are permitted for overseas education, travel, medical treatment and purchase of shares and property, apart from maintenance of relatives living abroad, gifting and donations.