The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) included Hong
Kong and Macau in the sensitive list of countries along with Pakistan and China
on 15 January 2014. Macau and Hong Kong are two Special Administrative Regions
controlled by China.
This means that
establishments from Hong Kong and Macau will require prior approval of RBI for
setting up business or related activities in India.
The activities
include establishment of liaison, branch, project offices or any other place of
business.
To this effect, Regulation 4 of Foreign
Exchange Management (Establishment in India of Branch or Office or Other place
of Business) Regulations, 2000 has been amended to substitute words, Iran and
China, with words Iran, China, Hong Kong and Macau.
Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan,
Iran and China are already included in the sensitive list.