International Financial Services Centres Authority Act, 2019
No: 50 Dated: Dec, 19 2019
International Financial Services Centres Authority Act, 2019
(Act No. 50 of 2019)
An Act to provide for the establishment of an Authority to develop and regulate the financial services market in the International Financial Services Centres in India and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.
Be it enacted by Parliament in the Seventieth Year of the Republic of India as follows: -
CHAPTER I
Preliminary
1. Short title and commencement. - (1) This Act may be called the International Financial Services Centres Authority Act, 2019.
(2) It shall come into force on such date as the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint; and different dates may be appointed for different provisions of this Act, and any reference in any provision to the commencement of this Act shall be construed as a reference to the coming into force of that provision.
2. Definitions. - This Act shall apply to the International Financial Services Centres set up under section 18 of the Special Economic Zones Act, 2005 (28 of 2005).
3. Application. - (1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires, -
(a) "appropriate regulator" means any financial sector regulator specified in the First Schedule to this Act;
(b) "Authority" means the International Financial Services Centres Authority established under sub-section (1) of section 4;
(c) "financial institution" means a unit set up in an International Financial Services Centre and which is engaged in rendering financial services in respect of any financial product;
(d) "financial product" means -
(i) securities;
(ii) contracts of insurance;
(iii) deposits;
(iv) credit arrangements;
(v) foreign currency contracts other than contracts to exchange one currency for another that are to be settled immediately; and
(vi) any other product or instrument that may be notified by the Central Government from time to time.
(e) "financial service" means -
(i) buying, selling, or subscribing to a financial product or agreeing to do so;
(ii) acceptance of deposits;
(iii) safeguarding and administering assets consisting of financial products, belonging to another person, or agreeing to do so;
(iv) effecting contracts of insurance;
(v) offering, managing or agreeing to manage assets consisting of financial products belonging to another person;
(vi) exercising any right associated with a financial product or financial service;
(vii) establishing or operating an investment scheme;
(viii) maintaining or transferring records of ownership of a financial product;
(ix) underwriting the issuance or subscription of a financial product;
(x) providing information about a person's financial standing or creditworthiness;
(xi) selling, providing, or issuing stored value or payment instruments or providing payment services;
(xii) making arrangements for carrying on any of the services in sub-clauses (i) to (xi);
(xiii) rendering or agreeing to render advice on or soliciting for the purposes of -
(A) buying, selling, or subscribing to, a financial product; or
(B) availing any of the services in sub-clauses (i) to (xi); or
(C) exercising any right associated with a financial product or any of the services in clauses (i) to (xi);
(xiv) any other service that may be notified by the Central Government from time to time;
(f) "foreign currency" shall have the meaning assigned to it in clause (m) of section 2 of the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (42 of 1999);
(g) "International Financial Services Centre" means an International Financial Services Centre set up, before or after the commencement of this Act, under section 18 of the Special Economic Zones Act, 2005 (28 of 2005);
(h) "Member" means a Member of the Authority and includes the Chairperson;
(i) "notification" means a notification published in the Official Gazette, and the expressions "notified" and "notify" shall be construed accordingly;
(j) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made by the Central Government under this Act;
(k) "regulations" means the regulations made by the Authority under this Act.
(2) Words and expressions used and not defined in this Act but defined in the Acts specified under column (3) of the First Schedule to this Act shall have the meanings respectively assigned to them in those Acts.
CHAPTER II
Establishment of Authority
4. Establishment and incorporation of Authority. - (1) The Central Government shall, by notification, for the purposes of this Act, establish an Authority by the name of the International Financial Services Centres Authority.
(2) The Authority shall be a body corporate having perpetual succession and a common seal, and subject to the provisions of this Act, with power to enter into and execute contracts, acquire, hold and dispose of property, both movable and immovable, and shall, by the said name, sue and be sued.
(3) The head office of the Authority shall be at such place as the Central Government may, by notification, decide.
(4) The Authority may, with the prior approval of the Central Government, establish its offices at other places in India or outside India.