Who this page is for
This page is for a person resident in India who holds the UAE company. That includes a founder who still lives in India.
It is not the page for an Indian company that owns the foreign entity. That investor already has a walkthrough of Form FC and the Annual Performance Report on the company page. The 90-day rule below applies to a person resident in India, so it applies to that company too. The company page now points here for the repatriation clock.
If you have already become a non-resident, the overseas-investment rules for a person resident in India may no longer be the ones that apply to new money. Status is tested for the year. Do not assume a UAE visa, by itself, has changed it.
Ninety days to bring the money back
Regulation 9(4) says a person resident in India who has overseas direct investment shall realise and repatriate to India all dues receivable from the foreign entity in respect of that investment, the consideration on a transfer or disinvestment, and the net realisable value of assets on liquidation. The period is ninety days from the date the receivable falls due, or the date of the transfer or disinvestment, or the date the official liquidator actually distributes the assets.
A dividend declared by the UAE company is the usual example. Leaving it in the UAE account past the ninety days is the breach, even when you plan to reinvest it later. Reinvestment has its own conditions. It is not an informal choice.
The annual report, including a quiet year
The Annual Performance Report goes to your designated bank each year by 31 December. If the UAE company's own accounting year ends on 31 December, that year's report is due by 31 December of the following year. It is based on audited accounts. Where you do not control the foreign company and the host country does not require an audit, the report may use unaudited accounts certified by a chartered accountant. The RBI instructions say that includes a resident individual.
A year with no activity is still a year you are invested. The report reflects that. It is not skipped because the company was quiet.
The same instructions say the report is not submitted once liquidation has started. Transactions from the last report until disinvestment, or until liquidation starts, go in Form FC instead. A bank that still asks for a report after that date should be shown those instructions. We do not treat a forum post as the rule.
The number the bank issues first
Regulation 9(2) requires a Unique Identification Number before you send the money or acquire the shares, whichever is earlier. Regulation 9(1) requires evidence of the investment, such as the share certificate the host country uses, within six months of the remittance. If that evidence is not submitted, the funds sent overseas are to be brought back within those six months.
One bank is designated for that number. Later dividends, more capital and the annual report go through that bank.