Currency Declaration Form now annexed to FEMA 6(R): the USD 10,000 and USD 5,000 thresholds NRIs must know when landing in India

On February 23, 2026, the Reserve Bank of India issued Notification No. FEMA 6 (R)/(5)/2026-RB, the Foreign Exchange Management (Export and Import of Currency) (Amendment) Regulations, 2026. Published in the Gazette of India (Extraordinary, Part III, Section 4) on February 24, 2026, it inserts a single new Annex into the 2015 currency regulations: the Currency Declaration Form (CDF), referenced in Regulation 6. For a Non-Resident Indian (NRI) landing with dollars, pounds or dirhams, the answer to when the form is needed turns on two numbers in its own instructions: USD 10,000 and USD 5,000.

The full notification is available on the RBI FEMA notifications page, and the parent statute, the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999, can be read on India Code. If you are new to the framework, our glossary entry on FEMA sets out how the Act and its regulations fit together.

FEMA / DTAA Position

The 2026 amendment does not create a new regime from scratch. It amends the Foreign Exchange Management (Export and Import of Currency) Regulations, 2015, notified as FEMA 6 (R)/RB-2015 on December 29, 2015. The RBI issued it under clause (ga) of section 47(2) of FEMA, the rule-making power that covers the import and export of currency. The notification is signed by N Senthil Kumar, Chief General Manager.

The 2015 regulations have been amended several times. The table below lists the amendment history recorded in the 2026 notification itself.

Since February 23, 2026, the declaration format sits inside the regulations as an Annex referenced by Regulation 6, so travellers, banks and Customs work from one gazetted document.

The two thresholds

Instruction (1) of the form says it need not be completed where both of the following hold:

Read together, the instruction works as a two-limb test. An NRI carrying USD 4,000 in notes and USD 3,000 in travellers' cheques, a total of USD 7,000, stays under both limits. An NRI carrying USD 6,000 in notes alone stays under the USD 10,000 aggregate but crosses the USD 5,000 notes limit, so the form becomes relevant. An NRI carrying USD 2,000 in notes and USD 9,000 in travellers' cheques, a total of USD 11,000, crosses the aggregate limit even though the cash component is small.

The phrase "or equivalent" matters for anyone arriving with non-dollar currency. The thresholds are expressed in US dollars, so pounds, euros, dirhams or Singapore dollars must be measured against the USD 10,000 and USD 5,000 marks at the prevailing value.

What the form records

The Annex lays out the fields. The form captures the aggregate value by currency, split into notes, travellers' cheques and a total for each currency. It records the passport number and nationality of the passenger. It carries a Customs certification, and it contains an endorsement table where encashment certificates are noted each time foreign exchange is converted.

Two simplifications are written into the instructions. Instruction (4) says details of individual travellers' cheques or notes need not be furnished, so a passenger does not list serial numbers. Instruction (5) says foreign tourists need not give an address.

Where the DTAA fits

A Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) allocates taxing rights over income. Bringing your own money into India is a FEMA event, not an income event, so no treaty article governs the declaration; treaties matter only once the money earns interest or gains. Our glossary entry on the DTAA explains the allocation rules in more detail.

Tax Treatment in India

The CDF is a foreign exchange compliance document. Neither the February 23, 2026 notification nor the 2015 regulations impose a tax on currency carried in. The tax questions arise one step later, when the money is put to work in India, and they depend first on residential status under section 6 of the Income-tax Act, 1961. Our residential status glossary entry covers the day-count tests.

Income that does attract tax

Once converted foreign exchange is deposited in an NRO account or invested, the income it generates is taxed under the ordinary provisions. For FY 2025-26, the new-regime slabs apply to non-resident individuals as they do to residents, starting with nil tax up to Rs 4 lakh.

One difference trips up many NRIs. The section 87A rebate, which in the new regime is Rs 60,000 for income up to Rs 12 lakh in FY 2025-26, is available only to individuals resident in India. A non-resident with Rs 10 lakh of Indian interest income does not get that rebate and pays tax on the slabs above.

Surcharge applies on top of base tax at 10% between Rs 50 lakh and Rs 1 crore, 15% between Rs 1 crore and Rs 2 crore, and 25% above Rs 2 crore in the new regime, where the top surcharge is capped at 25%. Health and education cess is levied at 4% on tax plus surcharge. See our surcharge and cess entries for the computation order, or run the numbers in the NRI tax calculator.

Capital gains on investments funded by the cash

If the declared currency is later invested in listed equity, long-term gains are taxed at 12.5% above an annual exemption of Rs 1,25,000, and short-term gains at 20%, under the rates in force since July 23, 2024. Gains on property or gold acquired on or after July 23, 2024 are taxed at 12.5% without indexation.

TDS

Payments to non-residents fall under section 195 of the Income-tax Act, which requires the payer to withhold tax. Where a treaty applies, the withholding rate is the lower of the rate under the Act and the rate under the DTAA, provided the NRI furnishes the documents the payer needs, typically a Tax Residency Certificate. Our TDS entry explains the mechanics. Detailed TDS guidance is published by the Income Tax Department at incometax.gov.in.

Tax Treatment Abroad

Because the CDF concerns the movement of money already owned, the country of residence generally has no income to tax at the point of travel. The interaction with foreign tax arises when Indian-source income, interest or gains, is reported in the country where the NRI lives. Under each DTAA, India may tax that income up to a treaty ceiling, and the country of residence then gives credit for the Indian tax.

The table below shows the treaty ceilings for six common NRI destinations, as held in Oquilia's DTAA reference data.

Three treaty notes are worth reading closely. Under Article 24 of the India-US treaty, which took effect on September 12, 1991, a foreign tax credit is available in the country of residence. The US dividend rate of 15% applies only where the recipient holds at least 10% of the voting stock; portfolio investors face 25% under Article 10. Under the India-Australia treaty, effective July 1, 1991, Article 23 uses the credit method, so both countries tax and the residence country then offsets.

India retains its taxing rights on capital gains under every treaty in this table; none of them makes such gains exempt in India. For shares of an Indian company held by a UAE resident, gains remain taxable in India, and the Singapore treaty's 2017 Protocol makes gains on shares acquired after April 1, 2017 taxable in India. To estimate the credit you can claim at home, use our foreign tax credit calculator or the DTAA benefit calculator.

The practical overlap with the CDF is evidential. If a tax authority abroad, or the Indian Income Tax Department, later asks where funds in an Indian account came from, a Customs-certified declaration dated on arrival is a clean paper trail showing the money was brought in rather than earned in India.

Repatriation Mechanics

The instructions in the Annex are, at heart, a set of rules about what happens to declared foreign exchange after it clears Customs. Instruction (2) says passengers should produce the form to an authorised bank or money changer when converting foreign exchange into rupees, or when reconverting rupees back into foreign exchange. Each conversion is noted in the endorsement table for encashment certificates, so the form becomes a running record across the visit.

Instruction (3) is the repatriation rule. Visitors who do not encash all of the foreign exchange they declared should retain the form and produce it to Customs at departure in order to take out the unutilised balance. In plain terms: if an NRI declares USD 12,000 on arrival, encashes USD 7,000 through an authorised bank, and flies out with USD 5,000, the form with its endorsements is what supports carrying that USD 5,000 back out.

Where the money can go

Converted funds usually end up in one of three account types. The rules that govern each sit in RBI's deposit regulations rather than in FEMA 6(R), and they differ materially.

See our NRE account, NRO account and FCNR deposit entries. To model what a repatriation from NRO will net after tax, use the repatriation calculator.

A worked sequence

Consider an NRI based in the United Kingdom who lands in Mumbai on a date in 2026 with GBP notes worth USD 6,500 and no travellers' cheques. Step one: because the notes alone exceed the USD 5,000 limit in instruction (1), the passenger completes the CDF and has it certified by Customs. Step two: during the visit, the passenger converts the equivalent of USD 4,000 at an authorised bank, producing the form, and the bank records the encashment in the endorsement table as instruction (2) requires. Step three: on departure, the passenger carries out the remaining equivalent of USD 2,500 and presents the endorsed form to Customs, as instruction (3) contemplates.

Had the same traveller arrived with the equivalent of USD 4,500 in notes, below both thresholds, instruction (1) says the form need not be completed.

What the notification does not cover

The February 23, 2026 Annex is about foreign exchange. It does not set out how much Indian currency a traveller may bring in or take out, and readers should not infer a rupee limit from the USD 10,000 and USD 5,000 figures. Rupee limits are governed by separate provisions of the same 2015 regulations and should be checked against the current RBI text before travel.

FAQ

Do I need to fill the Currency Declaration Form if I carry USD 8,000 in travellers' cheques and USD 1,000 in cash?

No, on the face of instruction (1). The aggregate is USD 9,000, below the USD 10,000 limit, and the cash notes of USD 1,000 are below the USD 5,000 limit. Both tests are met, so the form need not be completed.

I am carrying USD 5,500 in notes and nothing else. Is the form required?

Yes. The aggregate of USD 5,500 is under USD 10,000, but the notes alone exceed USD 5,000. Instruction (1) excuses the form only where the limits are not exceeded, so crossing the USD 5,000 notes limit brings the form into play.

When did the Currency Declaration Form become part of FEMA 6(R)?

The RBI issued Notification No. FEMA 6 (R)/(5)/2026-RB on February 23, 2026, and it was published in the Gazette on February 24, 2026. It inserts the form as an Annex referenced in Regulation 6 of the 2015 regulations.

Do I have to list the serial numbers of my notes or travellers' cheques?

No. Instruction (4) of the form says details of individual travellers' cheques or notes need not be furnished. You record aggregate value by currency, split into notes, travellers' cheques and a total.

What should I do with the form if I do not spend all my foreign currency?

Keep it. Instruction (3) says visitors who do not encash all declared foreign exchange should retain the form and produce it to Customs at departure to take out the unutilised balance.

Is the foreign currency I bring into India taxed?

Carrying your own money in is a FEMA matter, not an income event, and the 2026 notification imposes no tax. Income it later earns in India, such as NRO interest, is taxable under the Income-tax Act at slab rates, starting at nil up to Rs 4 lakh in the FY 2025-26 new regime, with 4% cess on top.

Does the USD 10,000 limit also apply to Indian rupees?

No. The thresholds in the Annex relate to foreign exchange only. Rupee carry limits sit in separate provisions of the 2015 regulations, and the February 23, 2026 notification does not change or restate them.