Documentation And Assistance

Many NRIs who have been living abroad for several years have either misplaced their PAN card or do not remember if they even have one in the the first place, or in some cases they have not updated their contact details in the records of the Income Tax Department.

It is important to update your address and contact details in the records of the Income Tax Department. In our experience we have observed that there are many NRIs who have a discrepancy between the name in their Passport and the name in their PAN Card.

Since PAN Card is now mandatory for any type of financial transaction, we can help NRIs in either getting a new PAN card issued or getting their details updated.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has liberalised the rules for repatriation but still there is a lot of paperwork involved before one can repatriate the funds from a bank account other than NRE account. Banks or Authorised Dealers in India ask for a lot of papers before they remit the funds to NRIs. Some of the documents that might be required are:

• Form 15CA/ 15 CB
• Source of funds 
• Bank Forms 
• Proof of payment of tax  
• In case of inheritance, proof of inheritance and probate of the Will

Our experts help you in preparing all the documents and submitting them in India so that the repatriation becomes a smooth affair for you.

Different banks have different internal guidelines that they follow, apart from the RBI guidelines. Therefore, NRIs will find that the documents required for repatriation are different. We understand the requirements of different banks/ authorized dealers in India and assist our clients in preparing the paperwork for them. We offer comprehensive solution as we not only assist NRIs in getting paperwork completed but we also negotiate on their behalf with banks or authorized dealers for getting better FX rates. Our work is completed only once the money is credit in the NRI’s account in their country of residence or any other jurisdiction where they have a requirement of the funds.

Since our team consists of veteran ex-bankers, we can also help NRIs for their various requirements that they may have from the banks. Regular correspondence with banks, getting a home loan or opening a new NRE/NRO account, being some of the few.

This in simple terms means that change in the title of documents, pertaining to investments (like shares, mutual funds, PPF, etc.) from the deceased person name, to the name of the legal heirs. Transmission of financial assets can be a time consuming and cumbersome process. For example, if you, a NRI, have mutual funds or shares from different companies in India then you have to write to them individually, sometimes documents required by these companies and the time taken will be different.

Transmission is a very time consuming process and one needs to be persistent in follow up for getting the assets transferred in the name of the beneficiary (ies).

If you are a NRI who needs help with this, then contact us and we will assist you with the transmission of financial assets.

Many NRIs grapple with this problem since there documents are usually in various different geographical locations and over a period of time, sometimes, they lose track of where the documents are lying. This problem is further compounded, as title of some of these assets belonged to their parents or grandparents and after their death they had no time to get it transmitted in their names in India.

We have seen cases where people have by accident found out about the assets that their parents had:

• They got a dividend cheque or a letter from the company 
• They opened an old suitcase or wardrobe of their parents 
• Found a photocopy of Share certificates or Mutual funds 
• Found an old dividend cheque 
• Old correspondence with the share companies or Mutual fund companies 
• Excel Sheet in their parents computer

If one does not have original documents pertaining to the ownership of the Mutual Funds or Share Certificates it becomes a very tedious and time consuming process to reclaim them. There is a lot of persistence required in follow up with the respective financial institutions to reclaim these assets. Many NRIs either are unaware of the process or simply lack time or persistence to reclaim them from the financial institutions.

We have a dedicated team to handle such matters. If you are a NRI in such a situation then simply contact Global Indian Solutions and we can help you in reclaiming these assets in India.

Dividends are regularly declared by profitable companies and these dividends become unclaimed if the person has not encashed the dividend declared by a company or mutual fund. The Unclaimed dividends can be for various reasons, some of which are:

• Mismatch of name / change of name  
• Mismatch of signature  
• Change of address  
• Closure of bank account  
• Account details are incorrect in the records of the companies or mutual fund 
• One has physical cheques that have not been encashed and have expired

At the same time NRIs who have changed addresses or have lost original certificates, are unable to claim them. As per the government laws, now, if the dividend remains unclaimed for seven consecutive years then the amount is transferred to Investor Education and Protection Fund (IEPF) which is managed by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.

We have a dedicated team in India to help you in reclaiming the unclaimed dividends or bonus shares.

Dematerialisation is the process of converting physical shares into electronic format. It is important now to convert the physical shares into a demat form as one cannot trade in shares if they are in physical certificate form. Apart from the restriction in trading, there are other advantages of converting the physical shares into demat form:

• It is easy to manage them in electronic form 
• No fear of loss as the records are there with a DP 
• Contact details and address are automatically updated in the records of all the companies for which a demat account holder has shares 
• One can also demat the Mutual Funds into a demat account

Process of Dematerlisation: Any person who wants to open a demat account needs to approach a Depository Participant (DP) and submit his KYC documents and fill a form. Once the demat account is opened one can surrender their physical shares, fill a form, and submit them to his DP and the DP processes these documents. The company, then, in their records note the demat account number and demat account holder details and credit the demat account with the electronic shares directly.

One important thing to note is that earlier people used to buy shares in different combinations of family members. Some shares will be like:

• Under father’s name 
• Some in mother’s name 
• Some in father as first holder and mother as second holder 
• Some in mother as first holder and father as second holder

If one has physical shares in combinations as illustrated above, then one either needs to open separate demat account as per combinations or get it transferred in one single name or joint name combination before these shares can be demated in India.