RBI decentralizes processing of Overseas Investment references through Regional Offices

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has revised the process for submission in relation to the processing of references (i.e., approval/clarification requests, compounding applications) pertaining to Overseas Investment (OI) made by persons resident in India. The update represents a shift from a centralized to a decentralized processing framework, with effect from 1 April 2026.

Hence, the references pertaining to OI would no longer be processed at the Central Office. Instead, they will be handled by specified Regional Offices (ROs) of the RBI, as identified.

In line with the above decentralization, Authorized Dealer (AD) banks are now required to adhere to the following revised procedure:

• All references relating to OI shall be submitted through the RBI’s PRAVAAH portal (an online platform introduced by RBI); and 
• Such references must be routed to the designated RO, based on the Unique Identification Number (UIN) allotted to the foreign entity.

The Unique Identification number (UIN) prefix will serve as the determinant for identifying the jurisdictional RO to which the reference is required to be submitted.

The RBI has prescribed a specific mapping of UIN prefixes to Regional Offices, as set out below:

• AH – Ahmedabad
• BG – Bengaluru
• BL / BY / PJ – Mumbai
• BN / CA / GA / GH – Kolkata
• CG / JM / JR / KA / ND / PT / WR – New Delhi
• HY – Hyderabad
• KO / MA – Chennai

The responsibility of identifying the correct RO based on the UIN prefix lies with the AD bank at the time of submission.

Source: Notification No. RBI/2026-27/03, A.P. (DIR Series) Circular No. 02 dated 1 April 2026